TOMB RAIDER - The Written Adventure
by saturn95
Summary: Re-experience Lara Croft's adventures in Peru, Greece, Egypt and the Lost City of Atlantis as she encounters countless goons, traps, and puzzles in search of the fabled Scion in this new, yet classic, tale!
1. Prologue

Prologue

The year is 1945. Just outside of Los Alamos, New Mexico, an unsuspecting rattlesnake slithered its way towards a nearby boulder when suddenly, a giant flash of white light was seen out in the desert, followed by a large shockwave and thunderous boom that rocked the atmosphere for miles. It was a nuclear bomb, one of many explosions that had been scheduled for testing by the local military. As the mushroom cloud rose higher into the air, a large circular metallic object with strange markings on it fell out of the sky, landing just a thousand yards away from the explosion.

Meanwhile, inside the large crater, where the radiation levels were deadly, another circular object started to spark under unknown circumstances. Then, it raised itself above the crater floor, revealing a large cylindrical formation of crystalline ice, in which was a strange figure that was trapped inside. Slowly but surely, the ice started to melt and the figure was able to free itself at last. When the local authorities tried to recover the strange objects, there was not trace of anything unusual to report. As a result, all seemed to be forgotten and no one spoke of it again.

* * *

Calcutta, India. 1996

Inside the large, spacious and luxurious lobby of the Calcutta International Hotel, there were many people wandering in and out and around the room talking to each other and greeting one another in a busy manner, just like the millions of others in the large city. In the middle of the room next to small table with a beautiful lamp, there was but a solitary lounge chair covered with expensive Indian red silk where a woman sat by herself reading the November issue of National Geographic. She was slim-built and had brown eyes and brown hair that she fixed into a French braid. She was wearing brown khaki shorts and a light blue shirt. That woman was none other than Lara Croft, the world-renowned British archeologist and adventurer. As she examined the magazine in front of her, Lara saw the title and could not help but laugh: _Lara Croft: Aristocratic Adventurer or Tomb Thief?_

As the daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, Lara was raised to be an aristocrat from birth. After attending finishing school at the age of twenty-one, her marriage into wealth seemed assured, but on her way home from a skiing trip, her chartered plane had crashed deep in the heart of the Himalayas. The only survivor, Lara learned how to depend on her wits to stay alive in hostile conditions a world away from her sheltered upbringing. After two weeks of travelling through harsh and snowy terrain, she walked into the village of Tokakeriby. By then, her experiences had a profound effect on her. Unable to stand the claustrophobic and suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, Lara realized that she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone. Over the eight following years she acquired an intimate knowledge of ancient civilizations across the globe and it was then that Lara's family soon disowned her. Lara had since turned to writing to fund her trips. Famed for discovering several ancient sites of profound archeological interest, Lara made a name for herself by publishing travel books and detailed journals of her exploits. Recently, Lara returned to the Himalayas on a hunting trip when she became the first person to shoot and kill a live yeti. The world media was quick to spread Lara's story to the world public, so it ended up as a secondary story headline on this month's issue of National Geographic with the title, _Yeti: Myth No More!_.

As Lara sits quietly reading the magazine, she noticed a man walking up to the small table in front of her. He had dirty blonde hair and was wearing a red shirt, a brown vest, blue, and brown boots. Lara looked up and saw Larson Conway, one of her most bitter enemies. He was a former Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, having served several years in Special Operations. His career as a Marine ended abruptly when he was dishonourably discharged after he had a violent disagreement with a commanding officer, the details of which were never made public. After serving time in a military prison, Larson used his military experience to good effect, serving as a freelance Private Military Contractor and gaining a favourable reputation across the globe. In 1995, Larson met up with Pierre Du Pont, another archaeologist, and eventually met Lara in Rome after their searches for the famed Philosopher's Stone intervened with each other. Lara emerged victorious after being chased around the city by both Pierre and Larson and fighting strange mythological creatures in previously unknown underground caverns underneath the Roman Coliseum, all of which got international attention.

Lara glared at Larson with renewed anger.

"Oh, it's you." she said bitterly to him. Larson ignored her crudeness and threw another magazine on the table on it read the headline, _LARA CROFT STAMPS OUT BIGFOOT!_.

"What's a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?" Larson asked intently. Lara looked up at him again.

"It's hard to say exactly, but you seem to be doing fine." she said.

"Well, great." Larson said, pulling out a mini laptop from his vest. "Though the truth is it ain't me that wants you."

"Oh?" Lara said, puzzled looking at the small computer.

"No, Miss Jacqueline Natla does, from Natla Technologies." Larson said opening and booting the computer. The screen then displayed an image of a blonde-haired woman in a business suit sitting at a large desk, Natla herself. "You know, creator of all things bright and beautiful."

Larson broke out laughing, which irritated Natla on the other end of the connection.

"Seal it, Larson!" she shouted. Larson immediately stood back and calmed himself down to avoid any further consequences. Natla then turned towards Lara, who was still puzzled by Larson's seemingly random offer.

"Feast your eyes on this Lara." she said, throwing huge stacks of money into the air and making them float to the ground. "How does that make your wallet rumble?"

Lara immediately understood Natla's intentions. She was asking the archaeologist to find something of rarity and value in some unknown distant land. Lara dropped her magazine on the floor and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I only play for sport." Lara said. "I think you've been mislead on what motivates me to find valuable and precious artefacts. I don't do these kinds of things for money."

"Well, then you'll like a big park." Natla said. "In this case, it would be Peru."

"Huh?"

Lara watched as the screen changed from webcam to a mini slide show of the snowy Andes Mountains.

"Vast mountain ranges to cover, shear walls of ice." Natla said through the computer speaker. "Rocky crags, savage winds, and then there's this little trinket…"

The screen changed again, this time it was black and displayed a computer 3-D model of a mysterious and circular object. It had three smaller circular objects along the outer edge; all were equidistant from one another.

"This here is a computer model of a legendary and agled artifact of mystical powers buried in the unfound Tomb of Qualopec." Natla said. "That's my interest…"

"I think I've heard of this before." Lara said. "Wasn't Qualopec one of the legendary rulers of the lost continent of Atlantis?"

"You would be right." Natla said.

"So, you managed to find the City of Vilcabamba?" Lara asked. "That's impressive!"

"Indeed it is." Natla said. "All I want you to do is find this artifact, the Scion, as it's called in the legends, and in return I will gladly fund any future trips you might be thinking of going on."

"If you insist," Lara said, "but I can easily fund my own trips with my writing skills. You don't have to go out of your way to pay me a load sum of cash."

"Just think of it as a reward for everything that you've accomplished in the last few years." Natla said. "Is that a deal?"

"I guess." Lara said.

"Good." Natla said. "If you wish, you could leave tomorrow. Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Well, I still have to get back to England and suit myself up. I'm still on vacation." Lara said. "But yes, I can leave tomorrow."

"Great! I'll be looking forward to seeing you sometime then." Natla said. "Good luck!"

"Thanks." Lara Croft said as the computer screen went blank. Larson closed the computer and picked it up.

"I never thought you'd accept the offer!" Larson said. "You must be feeling really bad about happened in Rome last year."

"Don't get any funny ideas." Lara said. "This better not be a hoax!"

"Lara, you can trust me! Natla is not the one for lying to people like you!" Larson pleaded.

"If you say so…" Lara said as she walked towards the staircase up to her hotel room. Larson watched as she closed the behind her. The bait has been set…

* * *

**Ah! There's nothing quite like a trip down memory lane! Here is where Lara's adventure starts to unfold...**

**Lara's biography was actually the biography featured inside the game booklet for the first Tomb Raider and Larson Conway's biography was from Tomb Raider Anniversary. However, this story is mainly inspired (if not fully inspired!) from the very first Tomb Raider game. The beginning dialogue between Lara and Larson is very much the same, except for the fact I did add some additional dialogue to enhance it. **

**Next stop, Croft Manor! :)**

**saturn95**


	2. Croft Manor

Croft Manor

Lara Croft drove her blue motorcycle through the expansive and serene English countryside towards her humble abode. It was still just after noon and the sky was dark and grey. When Lara arrived in London that morning, the city was enveloped in a large bank of fog and there was a small drizzle of rain. Luckily the rain did not last very long, otherwise Lara would have found it rather difficult getting back home on her motorcycle. However, the fog persisted and limited Lara's scope of sight.

_I knew I should've stayed in India!_ Lara thought to herself. _At least the weather there is nice and warm! Oh well, at least I have a fireplace._

Although she had the option to stay another night in Calcutta, Lara decided that it would be best if she left during the evening instead of the following morning. Apart from being annoyed by Larson, she wanted to have enough time to get all of her belongings together and to see if the delivery men have helped put some of her belongings into storage. When Lara left a few days ago, the main foyer of her mansion was piled with dozens of wooden crates, all of which contained precious and valuable relics from her travels around the world. She hoped that by now that all of the crates would be out of the way so that she could use the downstairs halls without climbing over the crates.

Lara stopped her motorcycle as soon as she pulled in front of the brick wall perimeter that surrounded her mansion and walked over to the gate and entered the code to open it. When the large front gate stood ajar, Lara hopped back onto her motorcycle and pulled into the lovely driveway leading to the front door of her mansion. Made largely of reddish brick and standing over a hundred feet tall, the exterior of Lara's house was nonetheless impressive. Just above the front entrance was a large and beautiful window that looked into the main foyer and also many other windows, each looking into a different room of the house. Lara's front garden boasted a large, beautiful fish fountain that poured water from its mouth. During the summer, when Lara was not busy reading in her study, she would sometimes go outside and lie next to the pouring water and fall asleep for an hour or two. She would even go outside during a clear night and gaze up at the stars with a telescope and listen to the relaxing water. But now, as autumn progressed, the leaves on the trees have since started withering away and the cold weather made it difficult to keep the water in the fountain flowing.

Lara's garden also boasted a giant hedge maze in which she would get herself lost whenever she was not busy doing archeology. Lara even went so far as to install a secret passage underneath the maze which would take her to a secluded and private area where she would relax and sometimes throw a party with some good friends. Parties at the Croft Manor were very rare, only because Lara was always travelling; but they were always fun. Along the backside of the mansion was another beautiful tree-filled garden where Lara was considering installing a custom-built assault course for her to practice her gymnastics. Still, she enjoyed the beautiful scenery that it offered.

"I wonder if Winston is home." Lara said to herself as she walked in the front door and slipped her shoes off. The overhead chandelier was turned on, but to her dismay, there were still crates lying across the foyer piled on top of each other.

"Blasted crates!" Lara said. "Looks like I'm going to have to unpack these myself. Great!"

Suddenly, Lara turned to her left and saw something that was not present before. Standing just next to the front door was the Ark of the Covenant, Lara's most recent discovery. It was widely known from the Bible that this legendary wooden chest had carried the original Ten Commandments. Now, it was in standing in Lara's mansion undisturbed, just as it had been for millennia deep underground in the Middle East.

"I was wondering when this would arrive." Lara said as she examined the Biblical chest. "This really was quite a find!"

Lara could not help but admire it for a few more moments before she decided to go up the grand staircase to the music room. Inside was a large piano and harp inside, where Lara would often practice her musical talents. But she was not in the mood for playing any instruments. She turned left and walked up another small set of stairs and entered the study. This is where Lara would spend most of her time working when she was not travelling. Unlike the Spartan walls of the music room, which were white and cold-looking, the study had wooden brown walls with many paintings hanging from them. Looking around, one might think they were in a college dormitory at Oxford. Inside the room was a large bookshelf containing volumes upon volumes of old books about mythology and ancient civilizations dating as far back as the 1800's all the way up to the current year (1996). There were also two large reading tables and a large fireplace, complete with a rack of fire utilities and a stack of dry chopped wood. Lara took a few blocks of wood and kindling and threw them into the fire place. She then took a lighter from one of the drawers inside one of the reading tables and started the burning process. A few minutes later, Lara had a nice and comfortable fire to relax by.

"Maybe I'll slip into something more comfortable." Lara said to herself.

After a quick change into a pair of expensive gym clothes, Lara went back up to the study and started searching through her bookshelf and found a book about ancient mythological legends. She turned the pages until she came across the Legend of Atlantis.

"This is it!" Lara said. "I knew I've seen this before."

Lara read the legend over and over again. Each time she read it, she was becoming more excited about the trip to Peru. Natla's words kept ringing through her head like a bell, taunting her with ever-growing anticipation of the days to come. She knew that in that time frame, the existence of Qualopec's tomb and the Scion of Atlantis would more than likely become her next great discovery. As time went by, the fire started to dwindle away and the sky outside casted an orange light into the room as the late afternoon sun started to poke through the stubborn clouds. Lara decided to stand up and stretch, after which she decided to take a leisurely break in her gym downstairs.

"It's sure quiet in here." Lara said as she made her way down the stairs. "Winston is probably not back from town yet. He did say he was going to prepare supper tonight. I wonder what it will be."

Lara stepped onto the cold blue-and-white checkered floor and started climbing over the giant wooden crates, being careful not to get any splinters in her bare feet. After making her way around the wooden obstacles, Lara was finally able to step into the left hallway leading to her personal gymnasium, which at one time used to be the ballroom. Inside the giant room were three windows on the far wall that looked into the back garden. There were also wooden ramps and blocks which Lara would practice her jumping skills. She started walking up the ramp labeled "1" and stopped at the white line before jumping down onto the second ramp, labeled "2".

"That was easy." Lara said to herself as she walked up to the end of ramp "2" and observed the wooden block ahead of her. This was where she would perform a standing jump and grab the ledge of the block, which Lara had already mastered hundreds of times. She stood right at the white line and jumped for the wooden block, grabbing the ledge before falling back down to the ground.

"I'm getting better at this." Lara said to herself, pulling herself up and then jumping back down to ramp "3".

"This one I can do a running jump." Lara said as she walked to the white line. She then took a step back and ran to the edge before jumping at the last step. She landed squarely on the block next to ramp "4".

"Right, this is a really big one." Lara said, knowing that this jump required her to grab the ledge of the next block while performing a running jump. She managed well with these kinds of jumps, but every once in a while she would fail to reach the ledge and fall to the ground. Luckily, these kinds of incidents hardly happened with Lara. As she reached the edge of the ramp, she took a deep breath and took a step back before making a giant leap. Lara quickly reached for the wooden block and successfully grabbed the edge, pulling herself up.

"Nice." Lara said to herself. "I've definitely gotten better at this."

Lara jumped down and turned her attention towards to the far corner of the room over by the entrance to her indoor swimming pool. There was a ramp labeled "5" and above it was small gap which Lara must shimmy to the right to reach and pull up onto the high ledge at the end as part of her exercise routine. Lara did just that and was able to climb on top of the high ledge where her head almost touched the ceiling.

"I should probably get down now." she said.

Lara got onto her knees, facing away from the wall grabbing onto the edge of the platform and let herself hang down before dropping back to the floor.

"I think I'll go for a swim." Lara said.

From her indoor gymnasium, Lara stepped into her Greek-themed indoor swimming area. At the far end of the room was a giant statue of the Greek god of the Sea, Poseidon shining under the light that coming in through the transparent glass ceiling. It was enough to make any visitor envious.

"Maybe someday I'll get a diving board installed in this room." Lara said. "But for now, I guess this will have to do."

After taking a deep breath, Lara performed a swan dive and splashed into the refreshing water. After about half a minute of swimming underwater, Lara surfaced and caught her breath. She swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out, her clothes dripping wet. She looked and saw Winston, the butler, standing at the doorway.

"Winston, you're back!" Lara said.

"So are you, Miss Croft." he replied. "What on earth happened to you? You're dripping wet."

"I…uh…fell in." Lara said, slightly embarrassed.

"Well, what can I say?" Winston said. "Accidents happen, right?"

"Yes, indeed." Lara replied.

"By the way, Miss Croft, I did manage to go out of my way to find us large turkey for supper tonight." Winston said. "It may be more than a few hours before I actually serve it though."

"That's fine, Winston." Lara said. "I'm not in any rush whatsoever. I just need to get out of these wet clothes!"

"Might I fetch you a towel?" Winston asked. "Perhaps a little beans on toast for a little evening snack?"

"Yes, that would be wonderful." Lara said.

"I'll be back momentarily." Winston said.

A few minutes later, Winston returned with a dry towel for Lara to dry herself with. He also brought her a plate with beans on toast, which he placed next to Lara, who was sitting on a small bench.

"So, how was that trip to India?" Winston asked.

"It was great." Lara said. "That is, until I met up Larson Conway with an intriguing offer."

"An offer, you say?" Winston questioned. "What kind of offer?"

"He and Natla, CEO of Natla Technologies, hired me to retrieve an artefact called the Scion from an unfound tomb in Peru."

"I take it you're leaving first thing tomorrow?" Winston asked.

"Yes." Lara replied. "I wish I could stay, but this prospect is right up my alley and I can't say no to it."

"Do you need me to get your belongings together?" Winston asked.

"No, that's fine. I can get my stuff in order." Lara said. "But, thank you."

"The pleasure's all mine Miss Croft." Winston said. "By the way, the turkey is in the oven right now. It should be done cooking by nine o'clock this evening."

"Alright," Lara said. "In the meantime, I should put on a new pair of clothes and start repacking my belongings for my trip tomorrow. I'm going to need some climbing gear, and probably my dual pistols. You never know what can go wrong during a trip in the Andes Mountains."

"Well, be extremely carefully over there." Winston said. "I've always feared for your life ever since you survived that plane crash years ago. I don't want to see you die anytime soon."

"I'll be fine, Winston." Lara said, taking a bit of her toast. "Really, I will be."

"Oh, I believe you, Miss Croft." Winston said. "It just makes me nervous that one of your enemies is inviting you to Peru under suspicious circumstances."

"Larson won't be there." Lara said. "It's just going to be me there, along with a local guide."

"If you say so…" Winston replied. "I should probably go check on our supper. I'll let you get your things together."

"Alright, Winston," Lara said. "I'll do that after I finish eating this. It shouldn't take me too long."

With that said Winston left the room and headed for the kitchen. Lara finished her snack and headed up to her bedroom to put on some dry clothes and repack her suitcase. She then started to think about what Winston had told her and realized that something was not quite right with this picture. However, Lara was unable to put her finger on it.

* * *

**This chapter definitely brings back memories from the first Tomb Raider, where Lara's house was featured as a training level for players to acquire basic game techniques. I did include everything that was featured in the game, including the familiar ramps and blocks that Lara would practice her jumping, her classic indoor swimming pool, as well as the Ark of the Covenant relic by the front door. But I also included extra material to add to the story plot, including Winston who did not make an appearance in the first game. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait until Lara's real adventure begins...again:)**

**saturn95**


	3. Peru, Chapter 1: Arrival

Arrival

Lara was getting very impatient as the plane continued soaring over the snow-capped Andes Mountains. The sun was just beginning to peek above the icy cliffs, turning the snow and the sluggishly rolling clouds into a bright golden orange as morning began to break apart the dark and unforgiving night. Lara starred out of the small airplane window and observed the beautiful landscape below her. Somewhere below the clouds and hidden in those mountains was the Tomb of Qualopec, and Lara would be one of the first people to see it in centuries. She found it hard to believe that almost ten hours ago, her flight had stopped in Madrid, Spain after a two-hour flight out of London. Since then, most of her flight had taken place over the seemingly endless Atlantic Ocean. It would only be a matter of minutes before her flight would touch down in Lima, the capital of Peru and her adventure would officially begin. She could not wait to get out of her chair and stretch her tired limbs.

As much as she was excited, Lara was also deeply concerned about the dangers she would face in the mountains. She had already had countless bad experiences in the Himalayas during her hunting trip and also painful memories from the traumatic plane crash she managed to survive. That, along with the usual dangers of climbing a mountainside, made Lara nervous about the trek through the Andes. But the thoughts of the Atlantean Scion helped her overcome these harsh upbringings and made her even more anxious.

About half an hour later, the plane started making its way over the Peruvian desert and soon after, the city of Lima and the Pacific Ocean. Lara suddenly heard the familiar chime.

"Attention all passengers. We will now begin our descent into Lima. At this time, be sure that you are in your seat and your seat belt is securely fastened."

Lara did as she was told and felt as the plane started to tip downwards and make its way down to the runway outside the Lima Airport. After about two minutes, the airplane touched the runway and the airplane started to rumble just as it did upon take-off over ten hours ago. At last, the plane started to slow and work its way to the international terminal before coming to a complete stop.

* * *

Lara was able to claim her baggage from baggage claim before she turned around and saw Larson waiting for her in the arrivals section. He completely stood out against the other people walking in the busy airport.

"Oh, please." Lara said. "Don't tell me he's going to be my guide!"

Larson walked up to Lara and greeted her with a smile.

"Well, well, well. We meet again Lara." he said. "It seems like we were just talking to each other in Calcutta, remember?"

"How could I _not_ remember?" Lara said. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Well, since I did introduce you to Natla's offer and you accepted it, I figured I would be the one to introduce you to the person who will take you up to the Andes Mountains."

"Is that so?" Lara said, rather surprised. "I never would've guessed."

"Lara, I would like you to meet Carlos."

Lara turned her attention towards a short Peruvian man with a greyish mustache and beard wearing a sombrero.

"Hello, Lara." he said. "I will be your guide into the great mountains."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Lara said.

"Same goes to you too." Carlos said. "Larson has told me so much about you and your discoveries. You must be quite the archeologist!"

"She certainly is." Larson said. "There's no doubt in my mind."

"Yes, I definitely have a great interest in the past." Lara said. "It's just so fascinating and strange that there are so many things that we have forgotten or have very little knowledge of."

"Absolutely." Carlos said. "Atlantis is one of those unsolved mysteries. However, I think we'll be able to answer a lot of questions with the new knowledge that we've just acquired, especially with you around to guide our investigation."

"So how was Natla Technologies able to pinpoint Qualopec's Tomb?" Lara asked. "Do you know?"

"I was never quite enlightened to these details." Carlos said. "However, I do think it has to do with the recovery of an old map from another dig site that mentioned a place called the City of Vilcabamba."

"The City of Vilcabamba." Lara said. "That was the city that was set up by Qualopec himself after the sudden collapse of Atlantis."

"So you have read the legend I take it." Carlos said. "Excellent. We must be on the right track then!"

"Just out of curiosity," Lara said, "this dig site where they found the map; is it still in operation today?"

"From what I've heard it is not." Carlos said. "They say that the people running the dig went missing over a decade ago. No one knows what happened to them, but it seems like they were on the same operation we are undertaking right now."

"That is strange." Lara said. "I wonder happened to them."

"For all we know, they could've reached the tomb, but died shortly thereafter for some unknown reason." Carlos replied. "At least, that's the best of my knowledge."

"Or maybe they decided that they had no business there and decided to leave and never return." Larson said. "They probably just gave up."

"Somehow I find that to be a rather unlikely reason why the archeologists would disappear." Lara said. She turned her attention back to Carlos. "Have there been reports of strange occurrences going on in those mountains?"

"There have been reports of strange lizard-like creatures roaming around in a secluded area of the mountains." Carlos said. "From what I've heard, there was a significant difference in temperature up there as well. Also, it just so happens that that same area is close to where Qualopec's Tomb is supposed to be."

"Well, I guess we have three mysteries to solve now!" Lara said. "This trip just keeps getting better and better!"

"Well, shall we leave the airport and get some breakfast?" Larson said. "I'm starving!"

"Tell me about it," Lara said, "I've been stuck on an airplane for the last twelve hours! I could use something to eat. But first I should probably try and find a phone so I can make an international call."

"There should be a telephone nearby." Carlos said. "I'll take you to it."

* * *

Since there no phone booths in the airport that made international calls, Carlos was able to guide Lara to a phone with the help of people in the checkout stands. Lara dialed the number to her mansion in England and waited for Winston to answer it. Finally, she was able to get a hold of him.

"Hello?" said.

"This is Lara calling from the airport in Lima, Peru." Lara said.

"Oh, thank heavens you made it safe!" Winston said. "How was your flight, Miss Croft?"

"It was very long and boring." Lara said. "But at least I made it over here safe."

"Well, that's good, Lara." Winston said. "I'm glad you made it. When do you start your mountain expedition?"

"I probably won't go up there until tomorrow." Lara said. "The weather up there is very bad right now, but it should be clearing up by tomorrow."

"Well, be careful Lara. I do wish you the best of luck in finding that tomb. That will be such an amazing discovery!"

"Yes, indeed." Lara replied. "While I'm here, would you like me to pick up a souvenir for you?"

"Oh, that would be splendid, Miss Croft!" Winston said. "I would love to have a souvenir from Peru."

"I'll be sure to find something for you then." Lara said. "I should probably go now; my guide is waiting for me."

"Alright, Miss Croft. If you can, please give me a call tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"Will do, Winston." Lara said. "You take care."

"Goodbye, Lara." Winston said. "Good luck on your quest!"

"Thank you, Winston. I'll talk to you later."

Lara hung up the phone and turned her attention to Larson and Carlos.

"Well, boys. Let's get out of here and find someplace to fill our stomachs." Lara said.

"By the way Lara, I won't be on the expedition with you and Carlos." Larson said. "I have other duties I need to attend to."

"Such as?" Lara asked.

"Things that Natla wanted done a few days ago." Larson said. "That's all I can say."

"I see." Lara said.

"Shall we go?" Carlos asked.

"Yes, we shall." Lara replied. "Let's go."

The group made their way out the exit doors and into the bright morning sun and made their way to the Lima Airport Hotel.

* * *

**Lara has finally made it to Peru and has met Carlos, her guide into the mountains. Lara doesn't seem to care about Larson not being able to join her on the expedition, however the last few comments that Larson said before they left the airport almost seemed rather disturbing. What did Natla want Larson to do a few days ago? I guess that makes four mysteries for Lara to solve now!**

**saturn95**


	4. Peru, Chapter 2: Taking On the Andes

Taking on the Andes

Lara, Carlos, and Larson started their trek into the Peruvian countryside the very next day. With Carlos behind the driver of their terrain vehicle, Lara was able to enjoy the sights of the grassy, green farmlands, where many alpacas were seen grazing under the midmorning light of the sun. The sky was a deep azure blue and the tall, spire-like mountains were glistening with fresh snow. Looking around, there was not a single cloud in the sky, but Lara knew that that would change in the coming hours.

"This place we are going to is actually not that far from Machu Picchu." Carlos said from the driver's seat. "By that, I mean over a hundred kilometres. Have you ever been there, Lara?"

"I haven't." Lara said. "But I've seen plenty of amazing photographs of the ancient city. It's actually very beautiful."

"It's even better in person!" Carlos said. "Especially just as the sun is setting over the mountains. Nothing, in my opinion, can compare to the sheer beauty of the ancient city at sunset."

Lara could not help but feel uncomfortable with the way Larson had situated himself in the backseat of the Jeep. She was beginning to get the impression that he was up to something that she was unaware of.

_Why does he keep giving me that bloody smirk of his_? Lara thought to herself. _If only I could just find out_…

Larson had remained quiet for much of the trip. Although he somewhat had feelings for Miss Croft, he still could not get over the humility that he suffered back in Rome after he failed to beat her to the legendary Philosopher's Stone. That was the first time he had ever been beaten by a woman, and now it seemed that he could find Lara in almost every magazine and news report everywhere he went.

_So what if she found the Ark of the Covenant? _he thought. _So what if she beat me to the Philosopher's Stone? I still have something that she doesn't have, and that is a strong military background!_

"Hey, Larson!" Lara said, looking at him from the front seat. "You're awfully quiet back there!"

"I'm just thinking to myself right now." Larson replied, though not in a very enthusiastic manner.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Lara. Just a little tired…"

_Uh huh_. Lara thought.

Just then, Carlos slowed the Jeep down as he guided them down a dirt road towards the point where vehicles became obsolete when traversing the treacherous mountain. They had finally reached their destination.

"Well, here we are!" Carlos said as he killed the engine. "Let's get our stuff together and start climbing that mountain. It will be another two hours before we reach the entrance to Vilcabamba."

Lara was the first to climb out of the Jeep. She took a few steps forward and took in the fresh, cool mountain air as a small breeze blew through her braided hair. She was ready for another exciting adventure.

"Aren't you going to grab your belongings Miss Croft?" Carlos asked as he reached in the back to get his backpack.

"Yes, of course!" Lara replied.

Larson walked up to her with a strange grin on his face.

"What?" Lara asked.

"Enjoying the fresh air I take it?" he said.

"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that." Lara said. "Especially after being stuck on an airplane for over twelve hours."

"Yes, well I hate to rain on your little parade, but I won't be able to join you and Carlos up in the Andes today. I have other things to take care of."

"Well, that's good." Lara said. "That way I won't have to listen to you complain all the way up! You do have a reputation of doing that…"

Larson said nothing. He knew what Lara said was true, but he wished Lara was not so condescending towards him, even after the mistakes he made in the past. Still, he knew that Lara would not forgive him anytime soon.

"Listen, I know you're mad at me." Larson said. "But face it; you wouldn't be here if it weren't for me. I'm the one that told you about the City of Vilcabamba. This will be your next great adventure."

"I'm flattered by this offer." Lara said. "But that doesn't change my feelings about you, especially after last year's little incident in Rome. I hope you know that it's your entire fault."

With that said, Lara walked away from Larson and to the back of the Jeep to grab her equipment. Larson just stood there and could not help but feel a rush of anger rushing through him. He kept thinking about the orders that Natla had given him:

_Be sure Lara finds the Scion, when the time is right, steal it from her and bring it to me_. _Also make sure that she is disposed of as well, we don't want her to screw things up_.

Larson did not agree with Natla at first, but now he wanted his revenge against the British aristocrat for his pathetic 'loss'.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lara was getting suited up for the upward hike. She grabbed her trusty backpack, a prized possession that she collected from a skeleton in ruins near the Cambodian capital of Angkor Wat when she had the privilege of going on an adventure with her former mentor, Werner Von Croy, when she was just sixteen years old. Picking it up, she remembered the race and how she had beaten him to the artifact before he did and also the earthquake which followed after Von Croy tried to retrieve the artifact and was trapped inside the revolving globe in which the Iris was kept. Lara had not seen Von Croy since then, though she knew he was still alive. From what she read, Von Croy was living in New York and had his own company, but that was all she knew.

Lara, then grabbed her passport, compass, sunglasses, music player (though she probably would not use it anyway), a few 'health packs', a canteen full of water, a few snack bars, and her new alpaca fur cloak to keep herself warm.

"Are we almost ready Miss Croft?" Carlos asked.

"Almost." Lara said. "I still need to grab a few more things."

Lara reached into the Jeep and found her trusty dual pistols and the holsters that carried them. She then took the holster straps and attacked them to her belt and tightened the straps around her legs to keep them from moving so much. Finally, she took the pistols and checked to see if they were loaded and grabbed ten more packages of bullets to store in her backpack, just in case of an emergency. She was now set and ready to go.

"Are you sure you're going to need those?" Carlos asked curiously, referring to the weapons.

"You never know what kinds of dangers are lurking out in the wild." Lara replied. "Isn't that right, Larson?"

Larson, who was still standing on the other side of the Jeep, simply glared at Lara.

"Well, isn't Larson coming with us?" Carlos asked.

"No, he has some important things to care of." Lara said.

"I'll just meet you guys back down here." Larson said. "Don't be gone for too long. Remember there's a snowstorm that's expected to blow through the mountains today!"

"There's no guarantee for that!" Carlos exclaimed. "Are you sure you can't come with us?"

"Yeah, I'll be alright. I promise." Larson replied. "Besides, I have tons of paperwork that needs to be done before tomorrow. Natla doesn't take late work very kindly."

"Okay, we'll back in a few hours." Lara said. "I sure hope you won't regret it."

"Don't worry, Lara." Larson replied. "I'll be just fine."

_The trap has been set! Now is my chance to explore the caves myself and find the first part of the Scion while Lara searched for it. I hope Pierre is having better luck than me right now, wherever he's at._

* * *

**Hey, everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in such a long time! I got carried away on the other story that I have uploaded to this site, which I've dedicated to the Mario brothers. If you want, feel free to check it out sometime...**

**Anyway... Lara, Carlos, and Larson have reached the base of the mountain in which the entrance to the City of Vilcabamba is located. Larson decides to stay behind, as he said he would do in the previous chapter. However, Lara is starting to suspect that something is fishy with him and that he has some unknown agenda to fulfill; still, she doesn't pay much attention to it and remains focussed on the adventure. **

**There is a reference from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation in regards to where Lara found her backpack. For those of you who have played the game before, this should sound familiar. Also, the reference of Von Croy's current wherabouts in New York are suggestive to later events that will happen, as revealed in Tomb Raider: Chronicles. **

**I will try and update this story as much as I can more often. Once again, I do apologize to those of you who have been waiting for me to update this for almost two months. I will keep in touch! :)**

**saturn95**


	5. Peru, Chapter 3: A New Adventure Begins

A New Adventure Begins...But with Consequences

Lara and Carlos continued into the high mountains and watched as the clouds began to roll in from the other side. As they climbed over large boulders and rocky obstacles, Lara could not help but think of what Natla said to her back in India. She was right alright. The mountains were indeed _vast_. She also noticed large piles of snow along the trail as the temperature began to drop and the wind started picking up tremendously. Her alpaca cloak flew gracefully in the cold icy wind, exposing Lara to extreme cold. But Lara did not seem to be affected by it at all.

"Aren't you cold back there?!" Carlos called from ahead of Lara.

"No Carlos, I'm fine!" Lara called back. "I'm used to it!"

"We're almost to the entrance!" Carlos called out. "We just have to make it past another mountain ridge and make our way up from there! It's not as difficult as it sounds!"

"Don't worry about it!" Lara called back. "I'm pretty sure I can handle it!"

Carlos chuckled as they both continued up the mountain side. As they continued climbing higher and higher, the clouds started to cover the sun and fog started to blur their visibility. The ground beneath them was becoming really icy and snowy making their navigation much more difficult. Soon, Lara felt the first snowflake land on her hand as snow started falling from the battleship-grey sky.

"It's starting to snow!" Lara said.

"Yep!" Carlos said. "But where we're going, we'll be above the clouds!"

"Will it be hard to breathe?!" Lara asked.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss Croft!" Carlos called back. "We won't be _that_ high up in the mountains. The clouds are just really low. Once we reach the city entrance, I think we have nothing to worry about, except maybe finding ourselves falling off the mountain cliff. But neither of us is dumb enough to do that!"

"That's very true!" Lara replied. _Don't know if I can say the same for Larson though…Oh well. If only I knew exactly what Larson was up to, IF he's up to anything._

Lara thought for another moment as she continued walking behind Carlos.

_Why was Larson so insistent of not climbing the mountain with us? Something just doesn't add up. Could he be trying to kill me? Wait a second…if Larson really wanted to kill me, he would've done that in Rome! Unless…_

Lara's thoughts started to race.

* * *

The snow was now blasting both Lara and Carlos as the winds became ever worse. They had just passed over the mountain ridge and were now climbing ever higher up another mountain, where the snow was no longer patchy and they were walking through a large ice cap. Lara's cheeks were now a rosy red as her face tried to keep warm and she could feel goose bumps developing all over her body.

_It's a little chillier than I imagined!_ Lara thought to herself. _At least it isn't too cold out here! _

Lara and Carlos continued higher for a few more minutes when the fog started to get brighter. As they got higher up the hill, then sun started peeking through and the fog started to clear, revealing the beautiful sky in all its glory. Lara put on her round sunglasses to keep the sun from shining in her eyes and also to keep the bright white snow from blinding her.

"We're almost there!" Carlos shouted from up ahead. "Just a few more steps and we'll be there!"

Standing near the edge of a cliff, Lara admired the spectacular vista of the white Andes poking out from the thick clouds just below. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold and it reminded her of her journeys through the Himalayas. The temperature had also risen since they both exited the fog bank, though the wind was still strong and snow was still falling from the sky.

"Lara! Over here!" Carlos called out. "We're here!"

Lara walked over to Carlos, who seemed to be looking at the side of another tall mountain. Lara looked closer and saw that he was actually looking at a large stone door that had been carved out of the very stone that made the mountain itself. There were three strange symbols above the door: a bird, a sun, and a face.

"Wow!" Lara said. "Who would've known that the door was hiding in plain sight?"

"Probably the people that built the city, which to my knowledge is behind that large door." Carlos said. "We haven't found a way to open it yet."

"Are you sure that the city of Vilcabamba is behind that door?" Lara said. "I'm starting to become a little sceptical."

"All the evidence that we've gathered over the years points us here." Carlos said. "I don't see why it wouldn't be here."

"Hmm…" Lara said, looking back up to the strange-looking Incan symbols. "There has to be a way to open this door."

Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Those symbols seem to be the key." Lara said. "Something tells me that the secret to opening the door is hidden up there."

"Really?" Carlos said. "What makes you think that?"

"I'm not sure." Lara said. "Has anyone else been able to climb up there to get a closer look?"

"No." Carlos said.

"May I see your rope and grapple hook?" Lara asked. "I think I'm going to check it out."

"Yes." Carlos said. "You're the expert, after all."

"Thank you." Lara replied.

Carlos handed her the rope, followed by the large grapple that would be used to climb the mountain with. Lara tied a knot around the hook and through it high into the air for it to catch the edge of the small platform just above the door. Once the rope was secure, Lara started climbing up the mountain.

"Be careful up there!" Carlos called from down below.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" Lara called back as she neared the three symbols above the large set of double doors. Lara examined the bird symbol, but found nothing peculiar about it. Still holding on to the rope, Lara reached out and examined the sun symbol, but it too did not show anything unusual.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?!" Carlos asked.

"No." Lara called back. "All I know is that there is a way to open this door."

"I should've brought some explosives!" Carlos said sarcastically.

Lara laughed.

"You know, that would ruin some valuable archaeological history!" Lara said.

"Hey, at least I'm not the one that raids tombs for a living!" Carlos said.

Lara laughed again. "Touché."

As Lara reached over towards the face symbol, she noticed strange about the round mouth piece. Barely being able to reach, Lara touched the mouth and surprised that it was able to be pushed into the wall. A loud click was heard and the mountain started to shake.

"What's going on?!" Carlos asked.

"I don't know!" Lara replied. "I think I found the switch to open the door!"

Sure enough, the giant stone doors started to open, revealing a dark cave on the other side. Carlos looked up and down the scene with utter amazement. He could not believe that Lara had opened the door.

"You opened the door, Miss Croft!" Carlos shouted. "You did it!"

Suddenly, an unforgiving howling sound was heard coming from the dark cave Carlos looked and saw three sets of glowing yellow eyes coming straight at him.

"Is everything alright down there?" Lara asked from above as she continued dangling from the rope. "Carlos?"

Carlos watched as three wolves emerged from the dark and started charging at him with hungry eyes. He screamed in terror as one of the wolves jumped at him with snapping jaws. Lara looked down and her eyes widened as she saw the horror developing before her eyes.

"HELP! HELP!" Carlos shouted from below as a wolf grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the ground.

"CARLOS!" she shouted. Quickly, she took out a small knife and cut the rope that kept her dangling from the mountain. As she fell, the alpaca skin that kept her warm flew off and Lara quickly drew her pistols and started firing at the wolves in a blaze of gunfire.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One wolf fell dead as Lara finally landed on the ground with a slightly injured ankle. She fired at the other two wolves but kept missing. She became furious.

"Come on, you bloody wolves! DIE ALREADY!" she shouted.

Finally, after two more shots, the other two wolves met their fate and Lara put her pistols back in her holsters. She ran over to Carlos's bloody body and listened to his final words.

"My…time…is…short." Carlos said. "I can't…carry on…any…longer…You must find Qualopec's tomb…before…"

"Before what?" Lara asked.

"Before…"

As Carlos tried to finish his sentence, he took his final breath and fell silent. Carlos was dead.

"Damn…" Lara uttered under her own breath as fought the tears that were developing in her eyes. Feeling guilty for what had just happened, she took the alpaca skin that she wore and used it to cover his body in a ceremonial manner.

"Rest in peace." she whispered, wiping the tears from her face.

After paying her respects to Carlos, Lara got back onto her feet and starred into the dark cave just beyond the double doors. Walking slowly into the cave she suddenly noticed that it was getting much darker. She quickly turned around.

BANG!

The door had closed behind her, sealing her inside the dark, cold cave. Lara took off her sunglasses and raised an eyebrow.

_Well, here we go._ Lara said to herself as she slowly started walking into the dark abyss ahead of her...

* * *

**And so begins the first of Lara's classic globetrotting adventures! **

**I'm glad I am finally able to work on this story again! I've been having too much homework lately, plus my Mario story has been recieving too much attention, so I figured I'd catch up a little on updating this story.**

**Many of you are probably familiar with this famous cutscene at the start of the game just before Lara enters the caves. I decided to make it a little more dramatic by adding the dialogue after the wolf battle. Carlos was trying to tell Lara something important, but he died before he was able to finish. What was he trying to tell Lara? No one knows.**

**Now, Lara is trapped inside a dark mountain cave with nowhere else to go but forward. There's no turning back now for our beloved female British archaeologist...stay tuned for the next chapter! It's bound to get more interesting! :)**

**saturn95**


	6. Peru, Chapter 4: Into the Abyss

Into the Abyss

Lara slowly walked into the darkness until her eyes started readjusting to the lighting. There was no sound inside the cave, except for the wind blowing outside just behind the closed door. Looking down at the snowy ground, Lara could see paw prints that were made by the wolves that caused havoc just minutes ago. She decided to retrace their steps, but in reverse.

_This place is creepy! _Lara thought as she walked further down the tall spacious tunnel. For a moment, she thought she could hear more howling echoing from ahead, but no wolves were seen, thankfully. Lara knew, or at least thought she knew, that the further she ventured the closer she would be to finding Qualopec's tomb, for she was determined to find it, despite her current situation. Lara pulled out her compass to see which way she was going. It read north.

"Well." she said to herself. I sure hope this is the right way! It's impossible to tell just by looking at a compass."

Lara put her compass away and continued walking down the cave, which seemed to slope downward until it flattened out just a little further along. The ground was still covered with snow and ice and bits of rock that chipped from the cave wall after years of weathering and erosion from the elements. Just ahead, Lara was able to see better thanks to a small skylight that let in just a little sunlight from outside. However, the darkness remained prominent and Lara continued moving forward, not sure where she was headed to as the cave started to narrow slightly. That was when Lara noticed nothing strange in the walls.

"What are those holes doing there?" she asked herself. "They shouldn't be there."

Lara took another step forward and the ground suddenly sank beneath her by a few centimeters. Lara looked and saw something poking out from each of the holes and quickly ducked as darts flew out at her from both directions. She ran past the darts and continued down the down the cave as her heart raced from the sudden surprise.

_That was too close!_ Lara thought. _There could've been poison in those darts! I'm just glad I didn't get punctured!_

Lara continued forward and then made a right turn as the cave suddenly shifted in that direction. Looking ahead, Lara could see a large empty cave area just beyond a rocky oval-shaped opening. Just before the opening was another cave branching out to the left that seemed to lead up to a much darker area. Lara decided to explore the large open cave first to see if she could find anything valuable. The lighting in the room was just as bleak as the previous area, if not a little more. Looking around, there was not much to see except a large rock structure that stood in the northeastern corner of the room that rest next to a dark hole in the wall. Lara decided to go check it out.

"Hmm...This rock seems a little steep for me to step on." Lara said as she contemplated another possible way to make it into the small dark room. She tried jumping and grabbing the ledge, but it was too high for her to reach. She then walked to the far side of the rock structure and climbed on top of it and tried jumping into the room from there. This time, Lara was successful and was able to pull herself into the dark room. She rounded the corner and found a skeleton that looked as though it belonged to another explorer that had gotten lost a while ago. She examined the body and found something in the skeleton's hand that looked like a rolled up piece of paper. Lara picked it up and unrolled it, only to discover that it was not just any piece of paper; it was an old map that seemed to indicate the location of the City of Vilcabamba. Unfortunately, Lara was unable to discern any of the writing that was present, for it had since been worn away and yellowed with age. Still, she decided to keep it just in case.

"Hopefully this map becomes useful later." Lara said. "It least it shows me where I'm going."

Lara climbed out of the small dark room and walked back towards the other cave that branched to the north. She climbed up into another cave passage that was much darker and mysterious than the previous one. Suddenly, a flapping noise was heard echoing through the cave and Lara drew her pistols out of fear. It sounded like wings. Suddenly, Lara was attacked by swarm of three bats that let out ear-piercing screeching sounds. She jumped sideways and aimed her pistols at the flying nuances before firing.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

With three successful shots, Lara watched the bats plop to the ground in front of her. Her heart was once again racing with adrenaline. Although Lara told herself that she was safe from danger, something in the back of her mind was beginning to tell her that things were going to get much worse. Still, Lara was determined enough to keep moving forward.

Continuing from where she left off, Lara then made a left into another cave that was filled with bright snow that had fallen from outside. To the right was another small dark alcove that seemed to be hiding some sort of secret. Once again, the ledge was too high for Lara to simply jump and grab. The only other way she was able to get up was by climbing the wall. So, she climbed the wall and pulled herself into the dark room where she found the carcass of another unlucky explorer.

"What is it with all these dead bodies?" Lara asked herself. "What did they die from?"

Lara searched and found another map that looked identical to the previous map she collected. It was in a slighter better condition and even had a date printed on it.

"August, nineteen forty-five." Lara read to herself. "This person has been dead for over fifty years. How intriguing..."

Lara took the map and climbed out of the dark alcove and exited the bright cave and continued down the other cave where she had not yet ventured. It continued for another fifteen meters or so before the cave ended and made an abrupt left turn. Lara also noticed something else that was peculiar: Scattered all over the ground were fragments of what appeared to be the remains of crafted ancient Inca stone bricks that perhaps used to form a kind of "archway" over the westbound cave. Lara raised an eyebrow at the brick fragments and pulled out the map.

"According to this map, it seems as though I'm not very far into the cave." she said to herself. "But already I can see evidence of a civilization...I must be on the right track then. I just wish there was light in this cave for me to see well! What's this?"

Lara walked over to where the next cave started and was able to discern a dark object on the dark. She found that it was another body. However, there was something different about it compared to the other two she discovered so far.

"This person died fairly recently." Lara said to herself as she began searching the body for any useful survival items. She searched through the rucksack on the dead body and found a pack of standard flares.

"Finally!" Lara said in a relieved tone of voice. "Just what I needed."

Lara took one of the flares from the bundle and stored the rest in her bag, illuminating her surroundings with the flare she carried in her hand in a bright reddish-pink glow. To Lara's surprise, the shirt on the dead body carried the logo for Natla Technologies on it. She was unable to see it before when the cave was dark, but now she was beginning to have strange suspicions.

"When did this happen, I wonder?" Lara said. "How odd..."

New thoughts were racing through Lara's mind. She did not know what to make of the body of the former Natla employee. It was obvious that the person was frozen to death from being exposed to the cold temperatures for far too long. However, Lara had a hard time understanding why one of Natla's employees would be lying dead inside a cavern that is usually blocked off from the outside world by a set of double doors made of stone carved from the mountain. The more she thought about, the more eerie and frightening the cave became. It was overwhelmingly quiet.

Continuing from where she left off, Lara continued down the cave to her left and emerged into a large dark cavern where a single large pillar of rock stood. She was standing from a ledge that overlooked the whole cavern. Still holding the flare, Lara carefully climbed down the rocky to the floor below and started making her way to the other side of the cavern where the ground was lower. She looked around and was surprised to see green ivy climbing the walls of the cave walls. After seeing nothing but snow for a while, the sight of greenery was a welcoming sight for the archaeologist However, there was something else that was even more surprising. Looking down at the ground, Lara saw a gaping hole where the ivy appeared to be growing from. She stooped down and shined the light from her flare into it and saw that it was not that deep and contained a small downward stairway leading to a small hallway where the walls had been constructed by an ancient Inca society many years ago. Lara eagerly climbed down into the hole and followed the ancient tunnel.

"I must be getting closer to the ancient city." Lara said to herself. "Natla isn't going to know what to do when she sees all of this."

Lara reached the end of the hall and was surprised to see an intricately carved stone door that blocked access to what lay in the next area. She tried pushing it open, but it was tightly bound.

"How am I supposed to get through this door?" Lara asked herself. "There has to be a way in."

Lara searched the door for any clues, but did not seem to find anything that would help her. She was about to turn around when she noticed something unusual on the right wall inside the small square-shaped doorway.

_Is that a lever switch?_ Lara thought. _How odd._

Lara grabbed hold of the switch and tried pulling it downwards. Suddenly she heard a clicking sound and the door miraculously started opening before her eyes. Lara gasped and drew her pistols when a swarm of screeching bats flew out from behind the door and down the small hall up into the cavern where she had come from. Lara put her pistols away as the adrenaline in her body began to die down. She walked through the doorway and was surprised at what she saw next.

* * *

******This chapter illustrates and expands upon the first section of the 'Caves' level from the original Tomb Raider game. **

**Lara has just begun her journey through the caves which are embedded deep within the Andes Mountains. Already, she has made a few interesting discoveries. So far, Lara has found the skeletal remains of two previous explorers that found themselves trapped inside the cave over fifty years ago, each bearing similar maps of the cave system.**

**Lara also discovered the remains of a third body, which turned out to be the remains of an ex-employee from Natla Technologies that found him/herself trapped inside the mountain at a much more recent date. She was able to scavenge a pack of flares from the corpse to help her see in the dark. ****Now, Lara is beginning to dive into the workings an ancient Inca society that has been undisturbed for hundreds of years. Little does she know that the real danger is yet to come. See you in the next chapter ;)**

**saturn95**


	7. Peru, Chapter 5: The City Entrance

The City Entrance

Lara entered another small dark cave area that seemed utterly desolate until she saw the huge doorway to the right side of the room. Entry was denied because the door way was blocked by huge wooden gateway, but what Lara saw on the other side was beyond her wildest dreams. She could see large hallway with two balconies on either side of the room on top of two large slanted walls on either side of the large walkway. At the end of the walkway, Lara could see a large closed door with strange markings on them. She was unable to tell what they read since they were too far away.

"If only I brought a pair of binoculars." Lara said to herself. "Although, I do have the feeling that I could be looking at the entrance to Vilcabamba. I wonder what that map says."

Lara took out the old map and realized she had traveled its full extent! It was clearly not as big as she thought it was. Lara realized that she was now on the brink of travelling through unknown territory. But as she turned around and looked throughout the small area she was in, there seemed to be no other way to go. That was when Lara noticed a large gaping hole in the upper right ceiling corner on the far side of the room relative to where she was currently standing. She decided to go check it out.

"I bet I can climb this wall." Lara said. "All those years of rock climbing have sure paid off. I just hope that whatever's up there leads me to that large room with the door."

Lara walked over to the corner and climbed the wall until she reached the top where she pulled herself up into another dark alcove that led into a small dark hallway. She became skeptical about where she was going.

"I don't know whether this is the right path or not, but it never hurts to check it out." Lara said to herself, unsure if she could believe everything she said. She slowly and quietly walked down the small tunnel, being careful not to wake up any bats or other creatures that could be lurking. The sound of dripping water could be heard echoing through the small cave. Then, Lara began to see light at the end of the tunnel.

"This tunnel wasn't very long." Lara said. "I wonder where it leads."

Lara emerged into a giant snow-filled cave on a high ledge that extended to her right and continued forward until it abruptly ended. At the end of the ledge was a wooden bridge that extended across the cave and was connected to yet another ledge where stone brickwork and two giant Incan pillars had been carved out of the natural rock. At the end of the ledge was yet another wooden bridge which, like the previous one, extended across the room to another ledge with an opening leading to another strange, unexplored area. The natural skylight in the ceiling let in the continuing snowfall that was present before Lara reached the top of the mountain with Carlos. She could tell that she was once again below the clouds, even though she was inside a mountain.

Looking down to the ground below, Lara saw nothing of interest. Two wolves were seen in the corner sleeping soundly, but the last thing Lara wanted to do was to wake them up, for she had the utmost desire to not return home with a missing limb. Therefore, Lara quietly treaded along the ledge towards the first bridge in hopes of getting to the other side without any negative interference. As she reached the wooden bridge, she tested it to make sure it would not collapse beneath her. She stepped on it once and found it to be relatively stable. Then she took another step. Still stable… By the third step, Lara found herself walking quietly across the bridge with no issues. Then she reached the middle of the bridge and started hearing the rope break.

_Oh, bloody hell!_ Lara thought to herself as the wooden panels began to "sink" below her feet. She tried dashing to the other side to carved ledge, but the bridge was quick to snap and break, causing Lara to fall to the ground below. By this point, the wolves had already awakened and they started dashing towards Lara with large teeth. She quickly got herself onto her feet and did not hesitate in pulling out her dual pistols. The wolves tried jumping at her with their snapping jaws, but Lara was able to quickly jump out of the way and shoot the wolves to their demise before they even had a chance to make her into a meal. Lara put her pistols away and sighed out of relief.

"That was a bit exciting." she said. "Now, to continue on my intended path…"

Lara walked through the snow over to side of the broken bridge next to the carved ledge and used the bridge as a ladder to climb up. After passing the intricate Incan stonework to her left, Lara started making her way across the more stable second bridge. She reached the other side and entered the doorway in the corner of the room and into an ancient hall with more Incan-style columns and followed it until she reached the centre of the hall, where a pit blocked the way. Ivy and other greenery, including a vine, was hanging from the ceiling where sunlight was now shining down from, revealing the pit to be a very dark and unforgiving place. However, that did not stop Lara from wondering what was down below, for she was determined to explore every little nook and cranny she could find to search for any clues or hints as to where to go next.

Lara took another flare from her bag and lit it as climbed down the rocky wall to the ground below. The other flare had since burned out after the fall into snow after the collapse of the first bridge, but it did not matter until now. Lara had a very limited supply, only four flares remaining out of a starting supply of six. After carefully manoeuvring her way down a rocky wall, she reached the bottom of the pit and started walking around, seeing if there was anything interesting she could find. Then, all of a sudden, Lara heard heavy footsteps behind her. She immediately turned around, but saw nothing. She started breathing more heavily as the footsteps returned. They were getting louder the closer they came. Then all of a sudden, there came a loud, unforgiving roar that almost scared Lara to death as she tried focusing her attention on the she was exploring. She moved the flare towards the source of the loud roar and saw a large brown bear looking straight at her.

_Oh, God!_ Lara thought as the bear started standing on its hind legs, getting ready for an attack. Lara took out her pistols and started shooting at the deadly creature, knowing that it would more than likely take one hit to kill the large beast. The bear kept roaring in pain as it charged after Lara, but she continued shooting the creature. After ten shots, the bear had given up its pursuit and collapsed onto the cold ground dead. Lara reloaded her pistols and picked up her flare from the ground and continued her search in the deep dark pit for anything of interest. Turning around towards the general direction she came, Lara discovered yet another passageway.

"Hmm…" Lara said. "I have a feeling this just might be the way to get into that large hall I saw earlier."

Lara followed the dark passage for less then fifteen seconds before re-emerging into the snow-filled cave with the two wooden bridges. Lara knew then that she had to retrace her steps. After climbing back up the broken bridge and running across the second bridge for the second time, she emerged back into the hallway the ivy ceiling skylight.

"How am I going to get across?" Lara asked herself as she surveyed the carved walls to her left and right, seeing if she could shimmy sideways across the pit. Unfortunately, the stony bricks were smoothed out and too slick for Lara to climb on. Then, she observed the vine hanging from the ceiling and had a second idea.

"Here it goes." Lara said as she stood back from the edge to get a running start towards the vine. After situating herself, Lara ran to the edge of the pit and jumped towards the vine, grabbing it while in midair. She then shifted her body weight to make the vine swing farther towards the other side, where two groups of columns lined up the sides of a staircase leading downward towards another area. When the vine was swinging far enough for Lara to reach, she jumped off and landed on both feet and started making her way down the mysterious staircase and through another small doorway.

Lara discovered that the stairs extended even further and the turned right into another large cavern filled with shrubs, ivy and other greenery, a stark contrast from the snow she had seen earlier. Just beyond the stairway facing forward, Lara saw a balcony with two columns and a small ledge jutting out of the wall just to the right of it. To her right was the large cavern where another high balcony was seen against the far wall. The once perfect stairway leading up to the top had since crumbled away due to years of battling the elements. Lara could also see a large gap was also present where the top of the staircase once met the top of the walkway. But importantly, there was a large stone door at the top that was closed tight. It was obvious that the door lead somewhere, but Lara did not have the slightest idea of where it might go.

"There has to a way to open that door." Lara said to herself. "Maybe if I take look over here first, I could find something."

She walked down the stairway and then onto the near balcony before walking over to the wall and to the edge where she readied herself for a small jump to the tiny ledge which housed another doorway. After a successful standing jump, Lara followed the small passage and came to a dead end in a small dark room. However, she was mesmerized by the sight of a large ancient Peruvian calendar that has retained itself even after centuries of abuse from Mother Nature.

"This is incredible." Lara said to herself as she examined the ancient inscriptions on the wall. "This place is richer in history than I had originally anticipated. I'm not even in the City of Vilcabamba yet! How could anyone miss all of this?"

After examining the ancient calendar, Lara re-emerged onto the tiny ledge overlooking the ivy cave and decided to take the easy way down by dropping to the ground below. But that was a mistake. Lurking below were two more hungry wolves that started growling through their teeth as they saw Lara get back on her feet. Wasting no time, Lara took out her pistols and started shooting at the vicious creatures as they charged toward her. Once they were dead, Lara looked back towards the first staircase and saw a large hole underneath filled with ivy that she did not notice earlier, but there was nothing of interest for her to find there, so she continued towards the broken staircase at the far end of the cave.

After climbing onto the jagged ledge, Lara focused her attention on the carved wall, which was covered with thick slabs of green ivy and noticed something sticking up from underneath one of the vines. She moved the plant out of the way and found, to her surprise, another lever switch.

"Could this open the door across that gap?" Lara asked herself. "I mean, what else could it do? The worst it could do would be nothing… This has to be it."

Lara was barely able to pull the switch, but it brought her good luck when she saw the door on the other side of the balcony open up before her eyes.

"Now I'm getting somewhere." Lara said as she jumped the gap and made her way through the ancient doorway. Suddenly, she heard the door move again and saw that the door was closing behind her. There was no way out, Lara knew, but she did not care. Whatever was at the end of this dark hallway, Lara somehow knew that it would take her somewhere else. She started walking up the stairway cautiously. She began to suspect something dangerous lurking ahead as the hallway continued forward before abruptly turning right and became darker.

"AH!" Lara shrieked as darts suddenly started coming out of the walls. Luckily, Lara's fast reflexes did not let her down as she was able to run to the top of the stairway without getting hit by any projectiles.

"That was really close!" Lara said as she finally reached the top of the stairway and entered a dark room that looked like it did not lead anywhere. In fact, there were no other doorways visible. Lara was now beginning to think that there was no other way out. Then, she took a step forward and felt the ground beneath her crack. Then, Lara felt her left foot fall through, which ultimately caused the rest of the floor beneath her to collapse. She fell for just a moment and landed on her back into another strange area. Lara hard a hard time getting up from her fall, for she felt bruises all over her body where she hit the ground. However, she was able to recover from her minor injuries and get back on her feet. She looked around and found herself on a large low-ceilinged balcony lined with columns and was connected to a larger hall with a much higher ceiling. Lara went to the edge of the balcony and was surprised to see that she was in the very same hall that she had seen earlier, but could not access because of the large wooden gate. Looking down, Lara could see the large stone door to her left and to the right was the wooden gate where she looked in not too long ago. Looking straight across at the other balcony, Lara saw that it was structured almost exactly the same way as the one she was standing in, except for the addition of a small passageway that was attached on the left.

"How in the world am I supposed to open that large door?" Lara asked herself as she pondered the possibility of another lever switch embedded somewhere in the large hall. She looked around the balcony, but did not seem to find any answers to this mystery. Then, she walked over to the right side of the balcony and saw that there was an open ledge on the other side, where the side had been eroded away.

"Should I make this jump?" Lara began to question as she debated on whether it was really necessary to jump to the other side or not. Eventually, she managed to get over her doubt and jump across to the other side where a wolf was waiting for her.

"Oh, give me a break!" Lara said drawing her weapons and firing at the creature before it could do any harm. She ran down the balcony towards the small passageway at the end and saw another wolf coming at her with large teeth. After killing the creature, Lara was able to walk into the small passageway and search for a way to open the large stone door in the hall below. She suspected there to be a lever switch of some sort that would do the job. As she approached the end of the small passageway, Lara was thrilled when she found another lever switch that seemed to be attached to some rope mechanism.

_Could this be the switch that opens the door?_ Lara thought as she rested her hand on the ancient switch. _There's only one way to find_ _out_.

On the count of three, Lara pulled the heavy switch and watched the rope pulleys move. A large heavy thud from the large hall entrance area was heard moments later, which meant that Lara's suspicions were correct.

"I am brilliant." Lara said. She re-emerged into the main hall with the large stone doors ajar and darts being shot from each of the two slanted walls that lined each balcony. Lara slid down the wall ran down the middle towards the large entrance, being careful not to get hit by the deadly darts. After finally making it past the traps, she entered the large doorway and continued down the passage ahead of her which looked rather foreboding.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wooden gate, Larson was watching all of the events happen before his eyes and was dumbfounded by what Lara has done to open the door. He knew that he was going to have to do a lot better if he wanted to beat her to the Scion. If all else fails, there was only one thing he could do to get his revenge…kill her.

"That girl has got some wit." Larson said as he watched Lara enter through the large double doors. "She would've been a nice add-on in the American military, too bad women aren't allowed to serve… But then again, she would probably make all of us look real bad."

* * *

**Lara is now about to enter the City of Vilcabamba, and Larson seems to be right on her tail...It seems as though he is trying to get back at Lara for everything that has happened between them by getting to the Scion before her. So far, Lara is prevailing in her efforts by a long shot, though she doesn't know this.**

**These events are based on the second part of the Caves level (with my own little twists added in, of course!). The next chapter will mark the beginning part of the second level of Tomb Raider, The City of Vilcabamba. Sorry for such a long wait...I'll be sure to get back as often as possible. Stay tuned!**

**saturn95**


	8. Peru, Chapter 6: Vilcabamba

Vilcabamba

Lara approached another set of large stone double doors that opened as the other set of double doors closed behind her. She walked forward and entered into a small cave area that opened up into a larger central area with a pool in the middle. The area was being illuminated by bright sunshine that was making its way from a skylight above the water, revealing the stony walls of buildings that once belonged to a busy ancient community. The ground was covered with extensive greenery, such as ivy, ferns, grass. There were also a few hallways that seemed to lead to a dark passageway that went all the way around the perimeter of the building structures. The hallway to the very left had two tall Incan statues resting on either side of its entrance, which seemed to hint at some token of importance. But before she decided to run down and investigate, Lara scanned the area she was in and starred over to the right and saw another passageway that followed behind the stone building that was now in front of her. She decided to follow the dark passageway.

"I can't believe I actually found this place!" Lara said as she slowly walked and admired all of the stone architecture. "I still don't understand why this place went so long without being discovered…I would think that this place would be easy to find, considering how quickly it took me to get through that cave. But then again, I am a tomb raider. Not every archaeologist has that kind of title!"

As Lara continued walking, she suddenly heard the unforgiving sound of wolves growling behind her. She looked back and saw four of them charging at her with the same fierce expressions.

_You know, I'm really not in the mood for this right now!_ Lara thought as she drew her pistols. _I don't have the bullets or time to deal with you wretched animals!_

The wolves continued charging, but once again Lara had the upper advantage as she pounded them bullets from her dual pistols. Once they were dead, Lara continued where she left off and emerged into another open cave area with an open ivy ceiling. Two beautifully decorated square Incan columns depicted a person on each side surrounded the skylight at the upper left and lower right corners relative to where Lara was standing. There was another wolf waiting inside for Lara, but she was no longer afraid of these kinds of dangers. The wolf's first instinct was to charge at Lara, but she charged back and unleashed a torrent of gunfire until the animal was lying on the ground dead. Lara walked across the uneven gravel, where stone used to take its place, and examined the ancient columns.

"These columns are in superb condition for their age." Lara said. "I wish I had a camera with enough film so that I could have shots of everything I've seen so far! This is just too amazing!"

Lara admired the structures for a few more moments, and then turned her attention to the left wall, where two doorways were seen. The one on the left led to the large central plaza with the pool of water in the middle. The door on the right continued down another dark hallway, which led behind another ancient stone building. Lara decided to take the door to her right and continue along the outside perimeter of the small underground city. Just a little ways away was another hallway branching to the left, which led back to the central plaza. But Lara continued down the dark path to a small dark corner that continued to the left down another hallway. She heard the flapping wings of two bats as they were seen flying near the ceiling of the dark hallway. Lara was not going to waste her bullets on them, so she continued towards the end of the hallway until she heard another growling sound.

"Oh, shit!" Lara said under her own breath as another wolf started running at her almost out of nowhere. She took out her right pistol and took the wolf out in one deadly shot to the head.

"If there are any more bloody wolves in this place…" Lara said somewhat angrily as she put her weapon away. "I will personally make sure that this place is devoid of them by the time I'm done here."

Lara continued down the hall to her left and walked past a small brick doorway into a tiny green area filled with ivy next to a slightly larger hallway leading back to the central area. Looking down the hall, Lara saw some intricate Incan skull carvings in the stonework as well as a couple of overlooking openings a few feet up that led inside each of the two small buildings that formed the hallway. She also saw a closed door which lead inside the left building and next to it was a lever switch. Lara wanted to check it out, but she decided to continue exploring the perimeter of the ancient city to see what else she could find. It was not very long before Lara reached another hallway that branched to the central plaza from the hallway she was in. It was the grand hallway that caught her attention not too long ago. Lara could now definitely tell the hallway led somewhere important from the central plaza as she observed the beautiful skull carvings that ran along the bottom of each side. The middle part of the ceiling was higher and had ivy hanging down and sunlight shining down as well, illuminating the avenue of skulls which would otherwise sit in perpetual darkness.

Lara turned to her right and saw another closed door, but something was different here. The door had a silver keyhole just to the right of it. Lara tried pushing and pulling the stone door open, but the locking mechanism held on tight.

"Hmm…" Lara said to herself, contemplating what she thought earlier. "This surely leads somewhere important, alright. Perhaps Qualopec's Tomb? It looks as though the only way I'm going to get through that door is if I find the key that unlocks it. But where could that be?"

Lara looked down the hall towards the centre of the city where the pool of water was located and began to think. There were two places that Lara could think of where the key could be hidden. It was either inside that one building that had the door with the switch, or it was somewhere underwater at the bottom of the pool after somebody quite possibly threw it in there centuries ago. She decided to go in the water first.

Before Lara headed into the central plaza, she continued down the hallway where she had left off exploring the rest of the perimeter. A few more bats were heard flying near the rocky ceiling as well as inside a small cave to Lara's right. She walked up a small flight of stairs and continued down the hall to the left until she ended up back at the small cave area near the entrance of Vilcabamba.

"Well, that was very interesting!" Lara said. "Now I can finally check out the middle area of the city. That key has to around here somewhere."

Lara walked through the large opening and started walking down a small set of stairs when she saw another door that lead inside the building just to her left. It was sealed shut, just like the other two, but Lara focused her attention to the pool of water at the centre of the large open room filled with overgrown plants, that is until she saw two doorways in the wall to the right leading into what appeared to be an old farm or stable that is no longer in use. Lara decided to investigate.

"This must've been where they used to keep livestock." Lara said as she examined the small stable. She looked around to see if there was a key lying around somewhere inside the small animal stalls, but she was unable to find anything. She even jumped up and climbed on top of the wooden ceiling of the stable to see if there was a key hidden up there. Nothing.

"Well, that was certainly a waste of time." Lara said as jumped back down to the ground. Suddenly, she gasped as a large brown bear stormed its way inside the stable and swiped at Lara without warning. The bear was able to cut Lara's arm with its paw, but Lara was able to run back out into the open to pull out her pistols as the bear started charging after her again. She was able to pound the bear with a few bullets to the head as she performed a sideways somersault to avoid the coming onslaught. Amazingly, the bear fell to the ground after four successful shots. Lara reloaded her pistols before putting them back in the holsters, and then stopped to take a look at the damage that had been done.

"Damn! That bear has sharp claws!" Lara said as she examined the cut on her left arm, where blood was already slowly beginning to drip. "I guess it could've been worse."

Lara reached into her backpack and grabbed one of the small health packs she was carrying with her and grabbed a medicated wipe to rid herself of any possible infection. After that, she grabbed a large bandage with a gauze pad and applied it to the wound to protect it from any further infection that could find its way in. Once that was taken care of, Lara was able to continue where she had left off and walked over to pool of water. She dipped her hand into the water and found the water to be quite chilly, but that did not stop her from seeing what was at the bottom. In fact, Lara could see what looked like underwater passageways that lead somewhere else deep in the watery depths. With her curiosity sparked, Lara had no choice but to see for herself where the water would take her, even though the water was cold to the touch.

"Well, here I go." Lara said as she neared the edge of the pool. After a few moments, Lara grabbed a huge gulp of oxygen and jumped into the cold water and started swimming down the dark underwater passageway to see where it would lead.

* * *

**So far, Lara Croft has explored the perimeter of the ancient city and has discovered the door with the silver keyhole next to it, which obviously leads to somewhere important. But first, Lara has to find the key. Now she about to swim her way through an underwater passageway to see where it will take her. She hopes that in doing so, she'll find what she's looking for...**

**This will the first of up to three chapters that will cover The City of Vilcabamba. Keep your eyes open, as I may have another chapter up and running very soon! See you then ;) **

**saturn95**


	9. Peru, Chapter 7: Silver and Gold

Silver and Gold

Lara continued swimming down the mysterious tunnel, hoping that it would lead her to somewhere of interest. The water was cold and dark, and Lara almost had trouble remembering which way she had come from, which made it rather scary. However, with her lungs full of air, she was able to carry on without any problems...at least for another minute or so. She took a flare from her bag and was able to light it without any problems. Now Lara was able to see much more easily where she was swimming to. At the end of the downward sloping tunnel, Lara came to a T-intersection and swam to the right through an upward sloping tunnel and emerged into a flooded room with numerous square pillars. She began to panic as she searched for a place to surface and catch her breath as her lungs began to burn with the build-up of carbon dioxide. The last thing she wanted was to drown while in search of one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind.

_Come on, girl! You can do this! _Lara thought to herself as she started swimming around the room. The more bubbles that came out of her mouth, the more air she lost from her lungs and the closer she was to death. Lara was really starting to panic. Suddenly, she spotted a light coming from the upper right corner of the room relative to where Lara entered the flooded room and swam toward it in a last attempt to save her life. To her amazement, there an opening up above and she wasted no time in catching her breath.

"Ah...air!" Lara said as she looked around what appeared to be another room. Lara climbed out of the water and saw numerous works of ancient Incan pottery scattered all over the wooden floor. Only a few of the ancient workings were broken. There was also a nearby wall switch where the floor was slightly raised just to the right of a small doorway where a stone door blocked access to the area beyond. Lara pulled the switch and the stone door opened back to the room with the central pool right next to the small set of stairs just beyond the area where Lara had entered the city. In other words, she made a full circle.

"Well, that should make for a shorter return trip!" Lara said. "I don't think I'll find the key in that flooded room, but it's always worth looking again."

Lara turned around and jumped back into the water with her flare still in hand and started exploring the flooded room with several pillars. She swam around every corner, scanning the floor for any glint of reflected light that the flare might reveal. However, Lara was unable to find anything that could be useful, so she surfaced back into the small room, climbed out of the water and walked back into the large room with the pool.

"Now to see where the other tunnel takes me." Lara said. "Hopefully I don't find myself in another scary situation…"

Lara jumped back into the cold water and backtracked her way down the sloping tunnel before returning to the underwater T-intersection. This time, Lara swam to the left down the other tunnel, which seemed to go straight to a dead end, until she noticed that there was another opening to her left leading up to another area. Lara swam her way up the tunnel into what appeared to be an ancient swimming pool with an intricate mosaic at the centre made up of faded blue, dark blue and yellow tiles and fragments that was outlined by a large yellow-tiled line with brown fragments forming a complicated zigzag pattern. The submerged walls of the ancient pool sported the same design of blue and yellow stones. Lara surfaced for air and swam to the edge of the pool to climb out.

"This place is rather interesting." Lara said. On one side of the pool, Lara could see four scary-looking lizard statues that had rubies for their eyes. The other side boasted two carved square pillars. The walls of the room sported carved bas relief patterns made up of thick perpendicular lines with tiny circles inside them, which ran chiefly along the bottom portions of the dark walls. Lara walked around the room until she came to a small opening in the wall just behind one of the square pillars that dominated the room. She walked into the dark area and found that it opened into an empty cave area that contained nothing of interest. Lara looked around for any items, but she was disappointed.

"Well, that was not was I was hoping for." Lara said as she walked out of the small cave and into the pool room. "I guess I'll try the door with the switch now. Hopefully I have better luck there."

Lara jumped back in the water and swam her way back through the underwater tunnels and back up to the central plaza of Vilcabamba. After she climbed out of the cold water and fixed her braid, Lara walked over to the building that had the carved door and pulled the switch next to it to open it. Lara entered and discovered what looked like the remnants of old Incan living quarters. In the centre of the room was a square pit with stone lining it; more than likely the remnants of old fire pit that was used to cook meals. To the right of the pit were a few wooden poles with horizontal ones situated between them and fastened together with dead vines to create a drying rack. Old, hand-woven and patterned fabrics worn by centuries of battering from the elements were still hanging from the drying rack. In the corner of the room, hanging from another wooden fixture was a large and severely decayed animal skin. Lara figured that the skin was more than likely a wolf since the tail was still present.

"Wow." Lara said, looking around the empty 'cabin'. "I'm actually getting a glimpse into the life of the Incas that lived here in this city! I wonder what caused all of them to just get up and leave…Was it too many animal threats? Was it disease? Or was it something completely different? I might find something as soon as I open that other door. But first, I have to find that bloody key!"

There was a set of wooden stairs leading up to what may have used to be a second floor balcony inside the building. However, the wooden stairs only went as far as the opening in the building wall that overlooked the hallway Lara ventured past before arriving at the grand hallway with the locked door. Looking to the other side, Lara could now see what was through the other opening and inside the other building. The far wall was completely covered with tiny skull carvings and in the wall was a small opening with a platform just in front of it.

"Something tells me I need to be careful when I go in that building." Lara said as she readied herself for a jump. After she took a step back, Lara ran to the edge of the opening she was in and jumped across the hall into the other building. Now the wall of skulls was easier to see and Lara was able to look down into the room below. The room was really plain, with dark walls in the bottom half of the room that contained the same perpendicular line pattern scheme as the room with the mosaic pool. The upper half of the room was made of lighter stone bricks and the ceiling was, surprisingly enough, made of wooden beams. Below, the ground was made of dirt and loose stone chunks and small, unstable-looking platform was resting just below where Lara stood in the opening. She dropped down onto the platform and felt start to crumble underneath her. Suddenly, the whole platform gave away and Lara fell onto the ground below, landing in a somewhat 'reclining' position.

"Damn it!" Lara said as she pushed the loose stone fragments off of her. "I think I really bruised myself that time. Ouch…that hurt."

Lara stood back up and started looking around the room and noticed that one section of the wall looked different from the others. It was plain and was a lighter grey colour and it looked as though it was never intended to be there. Upon closer examination, Lara could see through the tiny cracks around the grey section that light was coming through from what looked like another room where sunlight was making its way in. The only way she could really know for sure is if she moved the block section out of the way.

"There has to be a way for me to move this section of the wall." Lara said. "I wonder if I'm strong enough to push it. There's only one way for me to find out…Here it goes."

Lara backed up from the wall block just before unleashing her strength on it, not knowing whether or not she was strong enough to push it. To her surprise, Lara was able to push the block with ease and was able to push it down a small hidden hallway before emerging into another ancient living quarter. The wall scheme was very much the same as in the previous room: dark floor with line patterns in the bottom half and lighter grey stone bricks on the upper half of the large cabin, which to Lara's surprise had a second floor but with almost no way to get up. The roof ceiling and floorboards of the second floor were all made of rotting wood, yet they looked very much stable for their old age. On the left side of the narrow bottom floor 'hall' which lead to a slightly higher room with a low wooden ceiling, Lara caught sight of more ancient pottery that was still intact.

"This is even more incredible!" Lara said as she walked around the open-ceilinged part of the bottom floor. "I'm not even at Qualopec's Tomb yet and I've already found what I consider my next great discovery, the lost city of Vilcabamba! Natla better be happy when she hears about all of this, because I've already gone through too much trouble just to find this! I can't wait to get back into my hotel bedroom and rest!"

Lara walked into the next room with the low wooden ceiling and found even more pottery that was still in great shape and turned right to find a small closet-sized space that had small skull carvings all over it. Inside, Lara found something on the ground that made her eyes widen. It was a beautifully engraved Incan idol artefact that resembled a person, but that was not the thing that caught Lara's attention right away.

"Is this made of _pure gold_?!" Lara asked in a stupefied tone. She immediately grabbed her canteen and sprinkled the artefact with a little water to get most of the dirt of it. Sure enough, when Lara brought the idol into the sunlight that was pouring down from the roof in the main area, the light reflected off of it in a bright flash of yellow.

"This is incredibly beautiful!" Lara said. "I wish I had some jewellery like this! But then again, I don't wear pendants and amulets very often…I'll take it anyway."

Lara put the artefact in her backpack and went over to the left side to of the room to find another closet sized space. The walls were plain and dark, but it had its own surprise for Lara as well, a pleasant one for that matter. On the ground next to her feet was a large key that had a skull design on it. She took some water from her canteen and washed it a little and saw that it was made of pure silver.

"Could this be the key that unlocks that door at the end of that hallway?" Lara asked. "I have a really good feeling about this! But how am I going to get out of here?"

Lara looked around the room and noticed that large stone block that she pushed into the room. She saw that it was pushed next the wall where she could easily jump and pull herself up to the second floor. Lara wasted no time and eagerly climbed onto the block and then jumped up and grabbed the wooden edge of the second floor 'balcony' before pulling up onto it. Suddenly, a huge swarm of bats started flying at Lara from all directions, so she quickly drew her pistols and shot down the swarm before they had the chance to give her any nasty diseases that they may carry.

"Trying to slow me down, huh?" Lara said as she caught her breath and took a drink from her canteen. "I think not."

Before Lara ran over to the 'window' leading back out into city, Lara took a few moments to admire the furniture that was housed on the second floor of the ancient building. There was a table and a couple of chairs that were carved from wood that were still in great shape as well as more pottery, but as much as Lara wanted to admire it, she had more important things to do. She quickly ran over to the opening in the wall, standing on the floor that bordered the low-ceilinged room below, and climbed into it before dropping down from it and back into the hallway over by the cave area next to the entrance of the city. After that, Lara backtracked her way through the central plaza and headed straight for the grand hallway with the two tall statues in front and made her way back to the locked carved door and the silver keyhole that guarded its secrets.

"I hope this works!" Lara said anxiously as she took the silver 'skeleton' key from her backpack and brought it up to the keyhole, which to her surprise fit the key perfectly. She turned it and heard a loud click and the door opened up to reveal new areas for her to explore.

"Now, I'm really getting somewhere!" Lara said as she took the key back out and put it in her backpack. "I think I'll keep these artefacts as part of my souvenir package for Winston. He'll certainly be pleased when I show him all of these valuable treasures!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back outside the city entrance, Larson was having a hard time trying to keep up with the progress the British aristocrat had already made. He was on the high balcony opposite to the balcony where Lara found the pulley to open the large double doors. It was not hard finding the path Lara had taken, for he had already counted many dead wolves along the way. However, at the same time, Larson was not as athletic as Lara, especially since his discharge from the military, which made it difficult for him to traverse obstacles that Lara found easy. Nevertheless, Larson knew that he was hot on Lara's trail.

"You can run, but you can't hide." Larson said. "When I find you, Lara, I'll be sure to get the Scion before you do!"

* * *

**Hey, everyone! I told you it wouldn't be long before I updated again! Now that I'm really getting into this, I think writing this story will become a habit :)**

**Lara has now found both the Silver Key and the Gold Idol (hence the name of the chapter) and has already used the key to unlock the door to the next area of the city. As I said in the previous chapter, I was planning on breaking the second level into three chapters. This will be my second chapter covering the City of Vilcabamba. One more to go before the Lost Valley! See you in the next chapter, and don't forget to review :)**

**saturn95**


	10. Peru, Chapter 8: A Puzzling Place

A Puzzling Place

Lara walked through the doorway and entered a small room with similar-looking giant skull carvings along the bottom of the walls like the ones that lined the grand hallway behind her. A small square-shaped skylight was seen in the centre of the ceiling, which of course let in the light from outside. Then, Lara was suddenly forced to jump out of the way as two cleverly hidden dart traps reanimated and sent darts flying across the room. Her heart was racing at the sudden surprise.

"Well, those Incas are sure teaching me to take my time!" Lara said. "Hopefully it's not like this until I find the Tomb of Qualopec, because I'm eager to find that artefact. I guess I'll just have to go with the flow, wherever it takes me."

After crawling underneath the dart traps, Lara got back on her feet and walked through another doorway, emerging into a very large cave filled with jagged terrain both on the ground and on the ceiling. There were also patches of ivy dotting parts of the ground near a carved stone path that Lara found herself standing on. At the very end of the large cave where the stone path came to a halt, Lara could see a large building structure at the top of a grand staircase that was lined with two tall Incan statues. Another two statues were seen on the landing above the staircase next to the building where three doorways were present. Both the middle and the right doorway were blocked off by a stone door. The left one, however, remained open and seemed to lead down a hallway of some sort. The walls of the building were smooth and light grey in colour while the walls lining the doorways were covered in beautiful Incan pictograms and designs containing splashes of red and gold hues. As Lara walked closer, she saw that the two protruding grey walls on the very left and the very right of the building were structures in their own right, for they looked like two towers that went through the cave ceiling, which was much higher than where Lara was standing; she could even see a high balcony on each tower that looked down onto the middle roof as well as a ledge of rock running along the cave wall above it. The flat roof of the middle section with the three doorways displayed a distinct reddish hue.

"This place keeps getting more amazing the farther I venture!" Lara said as she approached the large building complex. "Now I really wish I brought a camera to take pictures with! I wonder what's behind each and every one of those doorways…"

Before Lara was able to contemplate what she would find next, she was startled by a pack of four wolves running straight at her. Taking out her dual pistols, Lara fired at the wolves as they tried attacking her, but failed miserably. Each shot that was fired sent loud echoes throughout the cave, which caused quite a stir for some of the bats that were situated on the cave ceiling. When the battle was over, Lara holstered her weapons and continued where she left off as she neared the grand steps to the large building.

"Hmm…Something tells me I have to open those two doors." Lara said as she studied her environment. "But, how? Certainly I can't push them open. Or can I?"

Lara went up to the middle door and tried pushing it open, but it would not budge. Then, she tried pushing the right door open, but got the same result.

"I guess I'll have to go through the left door." Lara said as she walked up the staircase past the two left statues. Lara pushed aside the ivy that was hanging in the doorway and started walking down a medium-length hallway that had a small staircase leading to another hallway going left. Lara followed it until she reached another left turn, where it emerged into a tall room with a large pool at the bottom where Lara stood. The walls were light grey and broken by two sets of Incan pictograms that were gold and bluish grey, as well as two sets of intricate red and white line patterns that ran all the way around the room about a third and two-thirds of the way up. Looking up, Lara could see two platforms with the same design leading to a doorway up above about one-third of the way up and two more platforms even higher up that were directly across from each other, each connected to a doorway leading somewhere different. The bottom of the pool had the same blue and yellow tiled appearance as the pool near the central plaza area of Vilcabamba and the ceiling was the same bright red colour as the roof above the three doorways.

"Well, it looks like I have to go up." Lara said. "Too bad there wasn't a ladder I could use. Oh well. I'm pretty sure my jumping skills can handle obstacles like this."

Lara took the small staircase to the left pool and stood on the edge of the platform before jumping up to grab the platform that was above her. With her super strength, she pulled herself up and was able to see that the larger platform ahead of her was not very far from where she stood. As a result, Lara was able to jump across with ease to reach the doorway above it and found it to lead to an upward-climbing staircase. Lara followed it and shortly reached a point where the ground levelled off and then re-emerged into the tall pool room from a vantage point located on one of the high platforms. Looking ahead, Lara knew it was just a matter of jumping across to the other side; that is until a pesky bat suddenly caught her off guard and started attacking her. Luckily, Lara was able to keep her balance and shoot the bat down with one shot from her right pistol.

"That was too close." Lara said. "I guess the animals here are eager for me to fail too. However, I'm not going to let that happen anytime soon!"

Lara continued towards the edge of the platform and backed up to get a running start. Then, she ran to the edge and jumped across the room and easily landed on the other side, after which she continued up another set of stairs through a grey hallway that made two right turns before emerging into another room. The room was much smaller with a low ceiling that had a skylight and the walls displayed a prominent gold colour that greatly contrasted the dull grey Lara had already seen. Just ahead was another doorway which opened onto the left balcony overlooking the rest of the building from the top of the left 'tower'. Looking down, Lara could see the top of the middle building as well as the grand staircase with the four statues at the very bottom of the giant cave about a hundred feet down. The other balcony that protruded from the right tower could be seen straight across from where Lara stood. All in all, the overall view was breathtaking.

"I didn't realize I was that far above the ground!" Lara said as she turned left. "What is this?"

It was a large, ancient pulley switch that went through the ceiling and seemed to be connected to something else as far as Lara could tell. When she pulled the rope, a large mechanical click echoed throughout the cave, followed by the sound of scraping stone that came from the ground. It was obvious that the pulley had done something, but Lara was not quite sure as to what it was. However, she hoped that it did something to where she could access one of the two closed doorways down below.

"I think I'll take the easy way down and jump down onto that rock ledge and then jump onto that roof and drop to the ground." Lara said. "I'm not in the mood for backtracking."

Lara backed away from the balcony and carefully dropped onto the natural rock ledge protruding from the cave wall. The impact was a little strong, but Lara managed to stay standing as she readied herself for landing on the red roof. This time her landing was much better, though her ankle could still feel the after effects of the previous drop. Finally, Lara carefully climbed down and dropped back down to the ground in front of the three doorways. To her amazement, Lara saw that the right door was now open.

"This place just seems to get weirder the farther I venture as well!" Lara said. "I feel like I'm in a giant puzzle!"

Lara continued through the right doorway and made a sudden sharp right turn down a small hallway leading to another tall room with a pool at the bottom. The room was the same size as the other tall room and was decorated the same way with the same colours and patterns. The only differences in the room were the presence of just one doorway near the top of the room and the sight of thin, unstable-looking stone slabs that connected the thicker more durable platforms on the lower and middle levels of the room. Lara walked up the small set of stairs and started walking across the uncanny stone walkway above the pool of water. She immediately started to feel the stone crumble beneath her and tried jumping back over to the small set of stairs, but splashed into the pool of water along with the rest of the stone walkway. Now Lara had to jump up to the sturdy platform ahead without the assistance of a solid surface beneath it. She climbed out of the water dripping wet and started back up the small set stairs and prepared herself for a running jump.

"You can do this, Lara." she said to herself as her eyes focused on the ledge ahead. "You've got everything under control."

After a few seconds of preparing herself, Lara leaped forward and reached for the higher ledge as she soared through the air. She was able to grab the ledge and pull herself up onto the sturdy platform. Looking around, Lara found herself confronted with a choice. She was on one of two platforms that were on the same level, both of which were protruding below one of four corner platforms that were low enough for Lara to jump up and grab. The other platform was closer to the doorway at the top of the multicoloured room, but was also on the other side of large unstable landing that connected the platform with the one Lara was already standing on. Lara decided to be conservative by taking the safer route, so she jumped up and grabbed the platform above her and pulled herself up.

"If the water was a little warmer, I wouldn't mind falling back in for another swim!" Lara said. "However, I have places I need to go."

Lara was now nearing the top of the room and saw that there were four more platforms scattered along the upper walls of the room. One of them was conveniently placed just above Lara and was clearly low enough for Olympic athletes like her to grab. She wasted no time jumping and pulling herself up and traversing across the other platforms before reaching the doorway. After walking up another staircase with two right turns, Lara found herself in a dark empty gold-walled room that was connected to another room with a similar colour scheme.

"I should be getting close to another pulley switch, I believe." Lara said to herself as she neared another doorway leading onto the right balcony looking down into the large cave. Just like the other high balcony, the right balcony offered a fantastic view of the overall architecture of the underground Incan building structure. Sure enough, when Lara turned right, there was another switch for her to activate.

"Wow, I'm so smart!" Lara bragged to herself. "Hopefully, this pulley will open the middle door below. Let's see if my intelligence paid off this time too, just like in the caves."

Lara pulled the switch and became excited as she once again heard a loud click followed by the sound of scraping stone.

"Yes!" she said to herself. "Now I can finally move on to the next area!"

Just like from the left balcony, Lara took the shortcut down by jumping down onto the protruding cave rock and then by jumping onto the roof of the smaller building and then finally dropping back down onto the ground. She turned around and focussed her attention on the middle doorway, which opened to a long, dark and narrow hallway leading to another room.

"This is where I need to go." Lara said. "I sure hope that I'm getting closer to my destination."

With little patience, Lara started walking down the small hallway and was surprised to see two perpendicular hallways branching out from each side of the hall before it opened up into a bigger room with a gated doorway. Somehow, she knew they were not hallways. As she approached the first of these miniature 'hallways', Lara was suddenly greeted by an unpleasant SWOOSH! as a large swinging blade trap tried to kill her. The only thing that saved Lara from certain death was her cat-like reflexes.

"This place must be riddled with traps!" Lara said, her heart racing uncontrollably. "I knew I should've listened to my instincts earlier! At least I know what to expect now."

When the timing was just right, Lara was able to run past the swinging blade, only to find that there were two more swinging blades, each going in opposite directions to each other, waiting for her down the remainder of the hallway. She carefully waited for the blades to swoosh past her before she ran past each of them and emerged into the small room at the end, where the doorway was blocked by a gate. Lara looked into the next room and saw that it was large. In the middle was a pool of water that had perpendicular line patterns going around it on the dark floor. Sunlight coming in from the ceiling caused the water to shine the reflected light onto the walls of the room. On either side of the room were four large square columns, each set supporting a large second-floor balcony where more columns were seen and the walls displayed more ancient grey and gold pictograms. Looking straight ahead, Lara could see another gate with a carved slot on the wall to the right of it. Behind the gate was another door made of stone and had a gold picture on it that looked strikingly familiar. Lara took out the gold idol from her backpack and knew exactly what she had to do.

"This artefact goes into the slot next to the door." Lara said. How in the world am I ever going to get into that room?"

Her question was answered at the sight of a lever switch just to the right of the doorway where Lara stood. She pulled it and was suddenly dropped into water as a trapdoor opened up beneath her. Once again, Lara body was soaked and chilled as she swam down a large hallway with huge arches that contained large Incan carvings of human faces. Although her eyes were burning, Lara could see light coming down into the middle part of the underwater passage, so she swam up past a smaller underwater opening until she surfaced into the large two-story room. She was about to pull herself out of the water when she caught sight of a large brown bear roaming around the pool, waiting for her to get out so it could eat her.

"Damn!" Lara said in a frustrated tone. "Why can't any of this be easy? Oh well. I guess it wouldn't be fun if it were easy."

As if the bear were listening to Lara's monologue, it gave out a huge roar and stood on its hind feet.

"Oh shut up you filthy animal!" Lara said as she continued trading water. "You'll be dead here shortly!"

Ignoring the bear for now, Lara focused her attention on the small opening that she swam past just a few moments earlier. She dove down into the water and started swimming her way through it into another large underwater hall with carved faces. It was not long before Lara was able to swim up and surface into another room that opened up to a large staircase leading up. Lara pulled herself up onto the landing and started walking up the staircase where it turned right into a golden hallway that eventually brought her to the right second-floor balcony of the larger room. Looking down, the large bear was still looking into the pool, wondering where Lara had vanished to. The bear saw Lara standing above him on the balcony just briefly before something loud rang through the room and hit him in the head a few times before he found himself laying on the ground giving his final breath.

"Now, you won't be a nuisance to me." Lara said putting her pistols away. She started walking around the balcony and admired the sight of more ancient pictograms. There was a skylight like the one in the main part of the room which illuminated the bright colours of the room, especially the bright red colour of the ceiling. After briefly taking in much of the scenery, Lara began looking for some sort of switch that could possibly open one of the two doors that lead out of the room. Her search ended very briefly when she found another pulley over on the side of the balcony that was closer to where she first looked into the room.

"I think I know what this will do!" Lara said in an excited tone as she pulled the rope that was somehow connected to a locking mechanism. Lara went back over to the edge of the balcony between two square columns and saw that the gate had been opened. All that was remaining was the stone door behind it with the huge gold idol symbol on it. Lara decided to take the shortcut and safely drop back down to the ground below. But before Lara went over to the gold idol slot, she took the time to thoroughly explore the rest of the area by seeing what was underneath both of the balconies. The roof underneath the right balcony with the pulley switch was rather empty and did not contain anything of significant interest. From there, Lara went back into the main hall and made her way to the room underneath the left balcony. Unlike the other room, the left room had a staircase leading up to a square-shaped room with a skylight connected to the main room. There was another doorway on the left that connected to the rest of the left balcony area, which had the same look and feel as the other side. Once Lara finished exploring, she headed back down the stairs and approached the slot next to the doorway with the locked stone door and took out the gold idol artefact she had just found. She fitted the artefact into the slot and watched as the stone door miraculously opened, revealing a small natural-looking tunnel that went down for a bit before making a left turn.

"I wonder where this tunnel is going to take me." Lara said. "I think I'll grab the gold idol on my way out. It's just too beautiful to leave behind! Hopefully this door stays open when I take it out." She took the gold idol from the slot to keep as another souvenir for Winston upon her return home, making sure that the door stayed open. When Lara could see that it was safe, she ventured down the dark tunnel and followed the sound of running water just ahead.

* * *

Larson, meanwhile, was just entering Vilcabamba and saw that the place had just been raided by Miss Croft. It was a sure sign that he was on the right path to finding the Scion as well, though he knew that Lara was beating him. Frustrated, yet relieved, Larson continued down to the central plaza of the ancient city, where the pool of water stood, and started scanning his environment. He had no idea where to go next, so he ventured down one of the smaller hallways and started searching the perimeter of the city.

"I know you're here, Lara." Larson said. "I can see the trail you left behind!"

* * *

**And so conclude the events that unfolded in the City of Vilcabamba... Lara is now about to enter the Lost Valley! I haven't really decided how I'm going to break that level into different chapters, but I guess I'll figure it out as I go. It'll be an adventure! :)**

**Larson has just figured out how to get into the City of Vilcabamba, and it may be a while before he even reaches where Lara is now currently located which will ultimately give her the leeway needed to reach the tomb before he does, though she doesn't know Larson is after her. Either way, there will a confrontation between the two characters later on! See you in the next chapter :)**

**saturn95**


	11. Peru, Chapter 9: Getting Warmer

Getting Warmer...

Though it did not seem like it, Lara had been exploring the underground caves of Peru for almost two and a half hours and still had no idea where the tomb, let alone the artefact, was located. She had already explored the forgotten city of Vilcabamba, setting foot in countless areas that have remained undisturbed for centuries and got a unique insight into the lives of the people that once lived there. Lara has already encountered many dangers throughout her adventure, things that threatened her very existence. Even so, it only made Lara ever more eager to see what she could discover next, because the farther she ventured, the more enigmatic everything seemed to get. As Lara continued down the dark passage, her thoughts began to go back to when Carlos was killed by that pack of wolves that attacked just outside the entrance to the caves leading to Vilcabamba. She began to regret not being able to save his life in time, but there was no way she could possibly do that, even if it meant dropping from the side of the mountain. But those thoughts soon passed and Lara turned left down the dark passage and lit a flare to see where she was going. The sound of a fast-moving stream started becoming louder as Lara approached the source of the sound. Lara remembered how cold the air around her felt when she first entered the caves and realized that it had gotten warmer since then…much warmer. It almost felt tropical. It was only now that Lara noticed the almost sudden change in temperature.

"Was this the temperature change that Carlos mentioned back at the Lima airport?" Lara asked as she began contemplating yesterday's events. "He did mention that Qualopec's Tomb was supposedly buried somewhere around here an area where the temperature was different. If that's the case, I think I might be getting close to the tomb!"

Lara suddenly remembered something else that Carlos mentioned before his sudden departure. He had mentioned the presence of large 'lizard-like' creatures that were reported roaming around the area. Thinking about it gave Lara a chill down her back, for she had no idea whether he was telling the truth or not. But then again, the temperature had changed just like he said it would. Could he really be telling the truth about the creatures? The more Lara thought about it, the scarier her surroundings seemed to get.

Lara emerged from the small passageway and emerged into another cave, where some of the surrounding rock was covered with green moss and a fast-moving stream was seen going rapidly to the right, where it opened up into a cave that was much larger and taller. Lara was standing at the edge looking down into the cave where the river was flowing over the edge creating a giant and magnificent waterfall. The water poured into a medium-sized underground lake that seemed to continue underground through a naturally made waterway. Behind the waterfall, Lara could see what looked like another opening, but Lara knew that the current of the water would not allow her to see what was there. Across from the waterfall, Lara could see another dark cave opening in the distance.

"Hmm…" Lara said. "There's a lot to explore here. Maybe I should see what's upstream first."

Lara turned away from the large opening and continued in the opposite direction towards the cave wall. She looked across the river and saw a place where she could jump to and did so while being careful about the possible danger of falling into the water. Lara turned and saw another small platform directly behind her just around the corner from where she started and jumped across again. From there, the platform merged into an upward slope that lead to another place where Lara could jump across the river. She easily did so, since the distance between her standing position and the other side was shorter. After she made it safely across, Lara went to the other end of the platform around a pillar of rock and observed another platform that was a little higher than the platform she was standing on. From there, it a simple matter of jumping and grabbing the edge and pulling herself up before continuing. As Lara pulled onto the high ledge, she could see a dark passage leading away from the river to some unknown location.

"Another passageway…great." Lara said, slightly irritated. "This place isn't supposed to a labyrinth! Oh well. I guess I should press onward."

Lara took out one of her remaining flares and lit it before continuing down the dark passage. The sound of the rushing water started to muffle out a bit as Lara ventured farther away from it. She rounded a left corner and continued around another rock structure down the dark cave. The only light that illuminated Lara's surroundings was the reddish glow of her flare. A few moments later, she could hear the sound water returning as she reached an exit that took her out of the dark and back above the raging river. She was now standing on a manmade platform that was made of light-brown stone that was connected to an old wooden bridge leading to another landing across the river. To her left, Lara could see the source of the rushing water: a large set of waterfalls that were the result of runoff from the tops of snowy mountains. Come to think of it, it had been a while since Lara had seen snow at all; another side effect of the temperature difference from where she started to where she was now.

After taking in the view, Lara left her flare in the dark and walked across the bridge to the other side where she discovered something curious. On the wall was an ancient gear mechanism that appeared to be missing three small cogs required to complete it. On the left wall was a lever switch that Lara figured was used to turn the gears. The last gear in the series on the right was connected to another gear in side the wall, which was connected to another, and so forth. But it was unclear what the purpose of the gear mechanism was. Then Lara glanced to her right and saw that part of the landing had given away and formed a safe route down to an empty riverbed that was connected to raging river. Surely, there had to be water flowing down that riverbed too, but something was blocking and diverting the water down just one path, over the edge and into the large cavern. Lara looked closer and saw that it was a manmade diversion in the form of stone dam that was built centuries ago, and was still doing a great job keeping the water from flowing into the other riverbed. Lara decided to explore the stone landings around the deep riverbed. She jumped to the other side and discovered a skeleton lying on the stone with a shotgun in its hand. There were also a few packs of shotgun shells that had never been used yet inside the bag that the body was carrying.

"I could use this!" Lara said as she took the shotgun and the ammo. "I could never pass an opportunity like this up!"

Once Lara grabbed everything she could, she turned around and jumped back across the empty riverbed and climbed back up to where the gear mechanism stood. Somehow, Lara had to get the gear mechanism to turn in order for the dam to open and let water flow down the other river channel in order to make the waterfall in the large cavern disappear to reveal that secret passageway; at least that was what she thought.

"I guess I'm going to have to find three small cogs in order to make this thing work." Lara said. "And right when I thought things couldn't get any more difficult…Let's see what surprises lurk in that large cavern at the end of the stream."

Lara made her way back across the bridge and through the dark cave with the flare she had lit, leaving it behind as she exited the passageway for when she returned. After jumping back across the rocky platforms, Lara ended up back where she started and started making her way through the large opening into the tall cavern with the giant waterfall. The trail leading down to the bottom was very bumpy and jumbled up, but Lara eventually managed to make it to the bottom of the cave. Walking around the small lake, Lara headed for the cave opening straight ahead when all of sudden, she was surprised by three wolves running out. She took out her pistols, but instead of running at her the wolves ran past her and started making their way up the rocky trail to the overlooking cavern that Lara had come from.

"That was weird." Lara said. "Why didn't they attack me?"

Despite her concern, Lara climbed over some rocks and continued into the dark cavern beyond. No matter how hard Lara tried putting her finger on it, something did not feel right about the area she was in…

* * *

**Hello, everyone! I am on a roll today, because is the second chapter I've uploaded in the last twenty-four hours! I've been thinking and decided to make the Lost Valley level three chapters as well. So far, Lara has explored the area upstream and has found the infamous gear puzzle requiring three more gears in order for the waterfall to reveal a secret passageway, though she doesn't quite know this yet. She has also acquired the shotgun from a dead carcass, giving her more protection against enemies! The wolves that ran past Lara and didn't even try to attack her is a sure sign of things to come. I have a special surprise for the next chapter, so stay tuned and watch for it! :)**

**saturn95**


	12. Peru, Chapter 10: Jurassic Park?

Jurassic Park?

The cave was getting darker still, but Lara could still see ahead of her just fine. However, there was uneasiness in the air that made it hard for Lara to press onward. Although she was a little scared, Lara continued around rocky obstacles and into the caves beyond. Lara was now standing in front of a large wall of white sandstone rock that lead up of to huge bright opening. To the right, Lara saw another cave that seemed to lead down somewhere. She started making her way towards it, when she encountered two more wolves that seemed to run past her without even noticing, almost as if they were too _scared_ to focus on her. Suddenly, there was a large pounding noise that shook the cave, causing rock debris from the ceiling to fall the ground. Lara stood clear of the falling debris and waited for the pounding to stop, which only lasted a few more moments. But somehow, Lara thought she knew that whatever caused the cave to shake, it was not an earthquake.

"What the hell was that?" Lara asked herself, her heart racing uncontrollably. "Something strange is definitely going on here, and I don't think I like it. I don't think the wolves like it either!"

Lara continued into the cave only to find that it lead to a passage that had been blocked off by large rocks from the recent event. There was nothing else for Lara to see other than a few fallen rocks and boulders, so she ventured back into the previous cave and focused her attention the light-coloured rock wall that lead up to a bright opening, which more than likely lead outside. Lara stood for a moment and listened. She could hear faint, yet strange noises coming from up there, noises that did not sound familiar in any way. It was almost as if she were about to enter another world, just like little Alice when she first ventured into Wonderland in Lewis Carroll's famous book. Wherever Lara was headed, she could already tell things were getting strange. She immediately began climbing up the tall rocky wall.

"I wonder what's making all of those strange noises." Lara said as she grabbed hold of small outcrop and pulled herself higher up the wall. The closer she got to the bright opening, the louder the noises became, and Lara was now able to distinguish some of the sounds. She was now under the impression that she was about to enter some sort of jungle. Thinking about the foreboding atmosphere made Lara lose her concentration on the climbing task, but she was able to regain her concentration before she was able to slip and fall to the ground.

"One more scare like that and I could be dead!" Lara said. "I must really be careful."

Lara continued climbing up the rock wall, grabbing one rock and then the next until she started nearing the top of the wall. From there, she grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up onto the white sandstone and blinded by the sight of sunlight pouring in from outside. Looking down to the ground outside at the top of the rock formation, Lara was dumbfounded by the sight of extensive greenery. Just before Lara started climbing down the other side of the rock wall, she saw a skeleton on the ground next to her that looked as though it were trying to get away from something. She began to think about the other skeleton that had the shotgun and remembered something else that Carlos had told her the day before regarding the disappearance of a few archaeologists that went missing just before the closure of an archaeological site that was set up in the area over ten years ago.

"Could these be the men that went missing all that time ago?" Lara asked as she examined the human carcass. "Something obviously killed them. But what, exactly? I guess I'll figure that out later."

* * *

Lara carefully made her way down the ground towards the green grass. When the distance from Lara's feet to the ground was close enough, she jumped down and emerged out of the open cavern and into a strange open landscape. Looking around, Lara could not help but be lost for words. She was in a large valley lush with different kinds of vegetation, some of which Lara had never seen before in her life. Huge palms trees dominated the open areas and many other green plants, such as ferns, were also seen. Even the high cliffs surrounding the area were dominated with overgrown plant life. About hundred and fifty feet away, Lara could see a large natural rock formation that had a large wooden bridge branching out to the right that was attached to the rocky cliffs on the other side. All around the valley, there were loud raging waterfalls pouring into small lakes and brightly coloured flowers were blooming everywhere, displaying vibrant shades of red, orange, yellow, purple, and blue. In some places, where the light of the sun hit the water just right, huge misty rainbows could be seen. To top it all off, the sky overhead was a bright blue, allowing for a fantastic view of the surrounding snow-capped Andes Mountains, which were still partially covered with clouds from the recent snowstorms. As Lara admired the beautiful scenery, a slight breeze started to blow through the valley and she felt her braided hair sway gracefully in wind. She also watched as two brightly-coloured tropical birds flew across the valley and landed somewhere near a looming palm tree. It was one of the most beautiful things Lara had ever seen, apart from some of the treasures she collected in recent years. She started to feel her eyes water a bit.

"This place is beautiful!" Lara said. "This would definitely be great for a travel brochure! Once again, I wish I brought a camera with me! Damn…"

As she continued walking through the tall grass, Lara noticed something strange hidden among a group of bushes near the left side of the small valley where the angle of the sun's light casted a shadow. It was some of creature that had reddish skin, but it was not anything Lara could easily identify. It was not until the creature turned its reptilian face toward her and revealed its set of razor-sharp teeth that Lara gasped both out of surprise and fear.

"No…it can't be!" Lara said as the scaly tailed creature slowly started walking on its hind legs toward her with its front legs up in the air. Lara blinked her eyes, thinking that she was only seeing things, but the dinosaur was still there and let out a horrific-sounding shriek as it started charging at her.

"Oh, bloody hell! Time to see if the shotgun still works…"

Lara quickly took out her shotgun and narrowly escaped the raptor's attack by performing a sideways somersault. She quickly loaded the gun with bullets and cocked the gun as she readied her aim on the dangerous creature. The raptor turned around and hissed at Lara before making another attack. Once her target was close enough, Lara pulled the trigger and blasted the dinosaur with a fatal blow to the head. Lara's heart was pounding viciously hard, but only started beating harder as more shrieks were heard all across the valley. Lara looked around and saw a whole gathering of raptors charging at her from every direction as far as the eye can see. She knew that she was in trouble.

"Shit! Way to go, Lara. You've really done it this time!" she said to herself as she put her shotgun away and pulled out her dual pistols. "Well, they asked for a fight. It looks like they might get one this time!"

There were about ten raptors and they all wanted Lara as their next meal, but she obviously had other plans for them. With pistols in hand, Lara aimed at the closest raptor that was charging at her and performed a spectacular somersault over the dinosaur's head and made a clean fatal shot right in between its yellow eyes. Landing back on her feet, Lara was quick to make another extreme manoeuvre as a second raptor tried snapping her arm off. Luckily, Lara was able to shoot the creature down before it ever had the chance. Now, Lara was surrounded by three raptors that were showing their teeth. They charged at her, but Lara once again avoided the fatal onslaught by back flipping her way out of the circle of dinosaurs and repeated her fatal gun shots, killing three more raptors in the process; five dead, five more to go.

"Who's going next?!" Lara said as the remaining raptors charged at her with open mouths. Lara once again catapulted herself over dinosaurs and fired at them. With one pistol, Lara was able to shoot down a raptor to her left while she was able to shoot another one to her right with the other pistol. Now there were only three raptors standing in her way. One after another, Lara was able to shoot all of the remaining dinosaurs down one by one as they charged at her while staying in the same spot. After the battle was over, Lara kneeled down to study one of the once-thought-to-be-extinct creatures.

"Wow! I can't believe I'm actually looking at real dinosaurs!" Lara said as she studied the dead raptors on the ground. "For these creatures to still be alive today is completely astounding! It looks like the theory of evolution will be going in the trash heap…that is if I don't kill the rest of these things! These must be the giant lizards that Carlos mentioned…How am I ever going to explain this to the rest of the world? This is just too good to be true!"

After looking at the dead dinosaurs for another moment, Lara continued on into the lost valley towards the giant rock formation with the bridge going across to the other side and started to notice _large_ dinosaur prints in the ground. In the distance, Lara could see another raptor charging through the prehistoric vegetation in her general direction. Lara took out her pistols and started aiming at the creature, only to see that it was followed by many more of them. Lara's eyes widened with fear as the horde of dinosaurs grew to around twenty. Then, Lara felt the pounding vibrations in the ground again. They were getting closer. Suddenly, Lara caught sight of a raptor flying through the air and hitting the canyon wall to Lara's right and then something else that completely blew Lara's mind.

"OH F***!" Lara shouted as she caught sight of the source of the ground vibrations. Coming straight her was a giant green-coloured tyrannosaurus-Rex that loomed over twenty to thirty feet tall in height and had a very stocky build with a large tail, large fearsome yellow eyes, and of course a giant set of razor-sharp teeth in its mouth. It ploughed right through the bridge that hung above the valley floor, leaving a giant gap in the middle as the giant creature caught sight of Lara. All she could do was scream and run as fast as she could as the t-Rex ploughed through the group of raptors that were running at her at the same time.

_NOW_ _I THINK I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE OTHER ARCHAEOLOGISTS!_ Lara thought as the t-Rex started closing in on her. _THIS IS THE END OF MY JOURNEY! Actually it might not be…_

Lara was quick to notice a tunnel right below the destroyed bridge in the distance behind her. Somehow she had to get around the giant dinosaur without getting eaten. Pretty soon, the giant beast had its mouth right up to Lara and was about to snap its jaw. Luckily, Lara was able to dive out of the way before it was too late and start running the other way. After quickly manoeuvring her way past a raptor that was still alive, Lara immediately started sprinting towards the tunnel underneath the broken bridge. The t-Rex did not have any trouble finding Lara before it started charging at her once more at an incredible velocity. By the time the giant carnivorous beast tried eating Lara again, she had already made her way into the small tunnel in the nick of time.

"That was close!" Lara said as she tried catching her breath from all of the excitement. "I have to kill that beast before I can continue exploring this place, unless I can get around without him noticing. But I doubt that's going to happen. I wonder where this tunnel leads."

Lara ran further into the tunnel through an opening on the left and continued up a ramp that levelled off and then started going down again it lead into a different area. After being in the bright sunshine for just a few minutes, Lara's eyes were now having trouble readjusting to the gloomy cast of the underground caves. But Lara could see more bright sunshine up ahead as she continued down the rocky tunnel. Then, Lara was suddenly surprised by a raptor that was hiding around the corner. Lara took out her shotgun and blasted the creature without even trying to aim, just to make things a little easier for herself. With the sudden surprise that just occurred, it did not help that Lara's heart was still beating at a rapid pace. She had never been so scared in her life.

After making another left turn through a slightly larger cave area, Lara reached a 'dead end' and emerged on a bright green vantage point that overlooked the valley floor. Looking to the left, the t-Rex was still trying to sniff out Lara by sticking its head through the passage entrance. Looking ahead, Lara could see a large natural rock 'arch' formation that was connected to the other large rock formation with the bridge. Beyond that, Lara could see that the small valley reached an end, but there was something that caught Lara's attention. Through the few palm trees and other plants that littered the valley, Lara could see a large manmade temple structure that was made of brown stone as well as some darker stone that may have been carved out from the side of the mountain cliff.

"How interesting…" Lara said. "That could be a good place to explore. I just need to sneak past that t-Rex!"

Using the vines and ivy for ropes, Lara quietly climbed back down to the ground and started walking towards the giant temple structure in the distance. But that was a big mistake. Lara felt the ground vibrating again as the giant dinosaur turned around and spotted Lara trying to escape. Panicking, Lara frantically searched for another way to escape, but ended up immediately running for a giant waterfall with a small lake as the dinosaur closed in on her with its vicious teeth. She dove into the water and started swimming her way down to the bottom of the pool to avoid the fearsome jaws of the t-Rex. She was trapped.

_Great! Now what am I going to do?! _Lara thought to herself as she waited for the dinosaur to hopefully leave her alone, but it did not look as though that were going to happen and Lara realized that sooner or later she was going to drown. But then, Lara caught sight of an underwater passageway that seemed to lead somewhere. It was a big risk, but Lara decided to follow it in the hopes of finding a place to catch her breath. Even if she did not find an air pocket, Lara decided it would be better to drown than to die at the jaws of a large unforgiving tyrannosaurus Rex. Still, she kept her hopes up as she continued through the dark underwater tunnel.

* * *

**The moment we've all been waiting for...Lara is now battling dinosaurs in the Lost Valley and is struggling to get by the infamous t-Rex! I was able to include an element from Tomb Raider: Anniversary in regards to how Lara first encountered the raptors and the t-Rex. Other than that, the 'architecture' of the valley remains pretty much the same as in the original, except for the fact I did put in some of my own made-up details, of course! Stay tuned for the next chapter as Lara tries to figure out a way to overcome and defeat the giant t-Rex! Sooner or later, the Tomb of Qualopec will be calling her name! :)**

**saturn95**


	13. Peru, Chapter 11: Prehistoric Adventure

Prehistoric Adventure

Lara continued swimming down the dark rocky tunnel as she continued losing oxygen. But to her great relief, the tunnel was not as long as she initially thought and she was able to surface in a small pool in a tall cavern where a small waterfall was pouring in from a large crevice in the ceiling. Next to the pool was a large tower of white sandstone rock which Lara could easily climb up. At the top, Lara could see a small space made of brownish granite rock that seemed to carry some unknown significance. She was about to climb out of the warm water when something made her drop back in. Waiting for her above the water was another red raptor, but he did not seem to notice the archaeologist floating in the water. Instead, the dinosaur started down another passageway that was seen to the right of the towering rock and left Lara treading water. When she figured that the coast was clear, Lara pulled herself out of the water and quietly walked around the tall cavern, which did not have a very large perimeter. Suddenly, the dinosaur ran back into the cavern and Lara was forced to jump on top of the sandstone rock to escape the deadly bite. Lara climbed to the very top until she reached the brown stones where there was more room for her to move around and heard the raptor shriek below her. She was about to draw her pistols when she noticed something on the ground to her left. Lara crouched down and examined the hand-sized circular object. It was made of stone and it had teeth around the outer edge as well as a hole in the very centre.

"A stone cog gear?" Lara said. "How did this get all the way up here?"

Lara took a look at the gear once more and realized there was a connection. The system of gears that Lara encountered before she entered the prehistoric valley were missing three gears, all of which left spaces that were exactly the same size as the gear she was holding in her hand. In other words, she would be able to use the gear to activate the gear mechanism at the head of the large river back inside the caves. If that really was the case, Lara would be one step closer to reaching her ultimate goal. All she needed to do now was find two more gears.

"This could be my ticket to reaching the tomb." Lara said to herself. "Now I have a real excuse to explore that prehistoric building I just saw not too long ago. However, I still have to find a way to kill that bloody t-Rex!"

After putting the gear inside her backpack, Lara carefully made her way back down the tower of sandstone and drew her pistols as the raptor started charging at her from inside the connected passageway leading out of the cavern she was in. She was quick to dodge another bite attack and was able to shoot down the creature before anything else could happen to her. Then, Lara could feel the faint vibrations of the shockwaves created by the t-Rex as it trudged through the open grass fields. She could even hear the giant beast give off its mighty roar as it continued running outside. Lara knew just by the sounds and vibrations that she was close to another opening leading outside. After making her way down another passage and climbing onto rocks, Lara emerged into the sunlight once again in a green ivy-filled opening that was located somewhere between the waterfall with the lake containing an underwater passage and the passageway located just below the now destroyed bridge. Lara could see the t-Rex running aimlessly around the valley floor, pounding away and creating a ruckus among the palm trees. Lara took out her shotgun and started aiming at the giant creature at it got closer to her.

"That's it big boy, you come here so I can shoot you!" Lara said. As if the giant dinosaur could hear Lara, it started running towards Lara's position and spotted her standing in the green opening. Lara cocked the gun and pointed at the t-Rex's face before delivering a painful shotgun blast to the dinosaur's face. The t-Rex groaned in pain as its left eye started to bleed out blood, as well as vision in that eye. Now half-blind, the t-Rex was having trouble with depth perception, but did not have trouble trying to tear Lara apart as its jaw lunged toward Lara and managed to break apart some of the rock surrounding the opening with its hard jaw. Luckily, Lara was able to escape and run back towards the pool of water in the tall cavern where she found the gear piece. She then retraced her steps by plunging into the water and swimming her way back to the small lake with the waterfall where Lara had the great view of the temple building. She climbed out and took out the shotgun and aimed at the t-Rex again, who was still near the other opening. Closing in for a better shot, Lara cocked the gun and delivered another painful shotgun blast, this time to the dinosaur's chest. However, the shot only seemed to make the dinosaur angry, causing it to let out a horrific roar. The t-Rex spotted Lara and started charging after her, so she started sprinting over to the large temple made of brown stone, her heart pounding wildly as she tried to escape the dinosaur's enormous speed.

_Come on Lara, you can do this!_ Lara thought to herself. _You've already blinded him in one eye! See if you can blind him in the other!_

When the t-Rex was within biting distance, Lara side-flipped to avoid the attack and took a new cartridge of shotgun shells from her back and quickly reloaded the shotgun to lessen the changes of running out of shots during the battle. By this point, the t-Rex had realized that Lara was nowhere to be seen and so he started running the other direction and spotted her with ease. Lara shot the gun and gave the dinosaur another bloody wound. This time, Lara shot the kneecap in its right leg, causing it to walk with a slight limp.

"How do you like that?!" Lara shouted at the dinosaur, who was still groaning in pain. "Not so tough now are you, big boy?"

The t-Rex turned its head and gave out another large roar and began running at Lara with its large set of teeth once more. Lara quickly jumped out of the way and did not realize that she was standing in front of a palm tree and the dinosaur was unlucky enough to run right into it, causing the whole plant to go crashing into the ground. Meanwhile, Lara continued running towards the ancient structure past the giant arch of rock. After recovering from its momentary blow, the t-Rex started searching the landscape around him to regain sight of Lara. The creature was quick to spot her running to the large temple and so it started running after her again. Lara was now approaching the stairway leading into the temple when she turned around and saw the t-Rex charging straight at her once again. Although she was tired from dodging and running, Lara still had energy left for what she was about to do next.

"Come on, you bloody bastard!" Lara said. "I don't have all day!"

The t-Rex roared as it got ever closer to Lara. When the timing was just right, Lara dove out of the path of the giant dinosaur to the left, drew her shotgun and shot the t-Rex in the other eye, causing him to go completely blind. The creature continued running forward and the sound of crumbling rock was heard as the dinosaur smashed right through one of the large square columns that supported the temple and got crushed by the falling debris that resulted from the demolition. After a few moments, the t-Rex eventually gave in and stopped trying to free itself. Lara watched as its body went limp and then ceased to move altogether as the giant reptilian beast took its final breaths before it met its fate. Lara had won the battle against one of the most fearsome creatures to ever walk the Earth.

"I did it." Lara said as she fell to the ground trying to catch her breath. Lara took the canteen from her backpack and started drinking from it until almost three-quarters of the water was consumed. After that, she took a snack bar from her back and started eating it to regain some energy lost during the chase. Finally, after a few more minutes of resting, Lara got back on her aching feet and climbed up the broken staircase and stepped into the mysterious temple.

* * *

Lara entered through the entryway and came across a magnificent sight. Inside the temple was a pool of water where water was pouring down from the ceiling on both the left and right sides of a tall carved structure, which the carving took the shape of someone's face. The light shining in from the ceiling created beautiful reflections on the walls, creating an atmosphere of serenity throughout the temple's stony interior. Looking around, Lara could see the distinct Incan line markings that were present in the City of Vilcabamba as well as the fact that both the side walls and the back wall (the wall nearest to Lara) was made of darker rock. Other than that, there was nothing else that seemed to pop out at Lara. She walked over to the water and kneeled down to stick her hand in it. It was lukewarm, not the ideal temperature to refill her canteen. Besides, she had a very hard time trusting the prehistoric water for fear that there could be harmful forms of bacteria lurking in it, even though the water was perfectly crystal clear. However, it was not enough to stop Lara from taking a refreshing dip in the relaxing water. After all, she had just killed a t-Rex! She dived into the water and felt the mist from the two waterfalls splashing in her face. It was so relaxing, Lara almost wanted to fall asleep, but she knew she had a tomb to find. So she climbed out and made her way towards the doorway leading back outside.

"Dang! I was starting to think that I've found the tomb!" Lara said as she approached the doorway. Then, she stopped in her tracks as she looked down at the ground as something caught her eye. It was another stone gear.

"Why are these gear pieces scattered around so randomly?" Lara asked as she compared the gear with the one she already had. "It's almost as if the builders of this temple or someone who lived here during the reign of the Incas deliberately threw these out into weird locations to hide whatever is hiding behind that waterfall in the giant cavern. But it's not stopping me from finding out!"

Lara put both gears back into her bag and stepped out into the bright sunlit 'veranda' where the supporting structures for the temple were located. She looked over to the giant pile of broken stone and saw the dead t-Rex still lying there. Lara smiled and shook her head at the same time as she examined the large dead creature.

"Killing a t-Rex is not as easy as killing a yeti!" she said. "It's also not as fun as killing a yeti, that's for sure! Hopefully I don't have to go through that again!"

Right as Lara started walking down the stony stairs to the grass fields below, she saw two raptors coming her way. Lara took out her pistols and fired at the creatures, killing them before they could even bite her. Even so, Lara was frustrated.

"Now I know something that I find more infuriating than a pack of wolves running after me, and that is a group of dinosaurs running after me!" she said. "That's the only reason I can think of why I can't wait to get away from here."

Then, Lara thought about the bridge that went across the valley. Where could that lead? How was she able to get up there? At the same time, Lara was quick to spot a small cave passage leading inside the cliff to her right as she walked away from the temple. She went over the large rock that was sitting below the passage and jumped up to grab the ledge before pulling herself up. _Alright, let's see where this passage leads_.

Lara walked into the small cave, only to find that it was a passageway with a carved stone path leading over a huge rocky hill down to another entrance. The ceiling of the cave was made of sandstone and the walls displayed a darker bluish-grey shade. Lara followed the dark and gloomy tunnel and emerged into another small passage that seemed to take her upwards. Lara began climbing large rocks and started pushing thick strands of ivy plants out of her way to reach the top of the tunnel, where sunshine made its way in. To her great surprise, as well as her great satisfaction, Lara was now standing next to the broken bridge overlooking almost the entire lost valley and its sheer greatness. The view was absolutely incredible. On the other side of the bridge, Lara could see what looked like a trail that had since been overgrown with huge tropical plants. Just to the left of the opposite side of the bridge, Lara could also see a small clearing that was covered with brown granite stone. As with every new area Lara finds, she decided to go and explore it. But first she had to deal with the large gap in middle of the bridge. Luckily, the parts of the bridge remaining were still being held up by large ropes that were tied to large ancient posts. Lara took one small step on the bridge just be sure it was stable enough for her to walk on. To her relief it was safe and she immediately readied herself for a huge jump to get to the other side. She knew that if she missed, it would more than likely be the end of her journey.

"You can do this Lara." she said to herself. "It's just like what you've practiced in the gym many times. You're the master at this."

Lara took a deep breath and took a few steps back from the edge of the bridge to get a good running start. When the time was just right, Lara sprinted towards the edge and soared through the air as she jumped to the other side of the broken bridge. Lara caught the wooden panel with just one hand, but was able to reach and grab it with other hand, despite the fact that her body could not swinging back and forth from the sheer force of the grab. Finally, gravity was able to stabilize Lara's body and she was able to pull herself up onto the other side of the bridge. A large dragonfly flew past Lara's head as she neared the small suspicious-looking clearing. It was there that Lara found the last stone gear that was needed to complete the gear puzzle back at the head of the rushing river near the large cavern with the waterfall. Lara felt a smile come to her face as she put the gear in her bag with the others.

"Yes! Now I can use these in the giant gear mechanism! Hopefully it still works after all the time it's been there." Lara said as she started pushing plants out of her way to see where the trail would take her. "I wonder if this trail will take me back to where I came from."

* * *

Lara continued following the green trail, catching sight of a few more tropical birds as well as a couple of previously unknown brightly-coloured spiders among the plants that displayed brilliant shades of red and blue on their bodies. There was no doubt that the insects were deadly, so Lara made sure to stay clear of them. At last, Lara cave to a cave opening that lead downwards at a sharp angle, but had stepped rock that formed a natural staircase making it much easier for Lara to go down safely. She ventured downwards for about a minute until she came to a point where the rocky ground levelled off and Lara was able to walk normally. However, she was dismayed to see that the underground tunnel ended abruptly, for the tunnel was blocked by large boulders and rock fragments. However, Lara was able to hear the faint sound of a waterfall just beyond the giant rock slabs, so she decided to try and clear the path of debris. Lara was careful when moving the giant rocks as they were very heavy and she did not want to get crushed by any large boulders. After a few minutes of pushing, pulling, and heavy lifting, Lara was finally able to clear a path that was large enough for her to squeeze through. Then she realized she was emerging into previously explored territory.

"Did I just make a complete circle?" Lara said as she looked around the cavern. Sure enough, she was standing in the very place where she saw the wolves run away from her as well as when she first felt the pounding vibrations through the ground. She walked forward and then right where she reencountered the rocky wall that she had climbed in order to enter the lost valley. Lara was glad she was not dealing with large dinosaurs anymore. Lara made another left down the small dark cavern connected to the large cavern with the giant waterfall. She climbed over the rock and once more found herself inside the large cave.

"Time to head back upstream!" Lara said to herself as she started climbing back up the rocks to the large opening leading to the water tunnel up above. When Lara reached the top, she immediately headed back over to far wall and started making her jumps back and forth across the river on platforms before pulling herself back up to the dark tunnel entrance where she kept her flare. But to her great surprise, the flare was missing!

"Where did my bloody flare go?!" Lara said. "That's just too odd! I guess I'll have to make my way through the dark for just a minute."

Lara would light another flare, but she was worried that she might later venture into an area where she would really need one, so decided to be conservative about her flare supply. After all, she only had a few of them to use. As much as she did not like walking through the dark, Lara was able to make her way through the tunnel and make her way across the bridge over the roaring river to the large gear mechanism.

"Alright, let's see how well these things fit on here." Lara said as she took the three cogs from her backpack. She took one and fitted it on the first peg to find that number of teeth and the spaces in between the teeth on the gear fit perfectly with the ones that were already on the mechanism. Lara put the other two gears on the two remaining empty pegs and walked over to the switch on the left wall.

"Here it goes!" Lara said, pulling the switch with heightened determination. A large click echoed through the waterway and the gears slowly began to pivot along their axes and then eventually gain speed. Suddenly, another loud noise was heard in the waterway, only it was coming from further downstream. Lara turned around and watched in amazement as the large dam structure started to slowly work its way against the oncoming rush of water and divert the water down the previously dried up riverbed. The other riverbed was now beginning to drain away, therefore erasing the large waterfall in the large cavern beyond that was previously blocking an otherwise accessible passageway. Once the dam was completely in place, another large click was heard and the gears in the mechanism came to a complete halt.

"Yes, it worked!" Lara said. "Now I can finally find out where that passage will lead."

Lara once again retraced her steps back through the dark tunnel and across the small platform jumps before she was walking along the now dried-out river bed. Emerging from the large opening overlooking the large cavern, Lara looked down at the small lake where the waterfall once poured down and saw the small opening clearly. Lara decided to take another shortcut down to the water. From her vantage point at the top of the large rock 'stairway', Lara jumped off the edge and performed a magnificent swan dive into the water below. She surfaced and swam over to the opening in the wall and pulled herself out and struck another flare before venturing into the dark tunnel ahead. Along the way, Lara discovered a carved stone door that was already open which lead down another tunnel branching off to the right, where the ambient lighting seemed to get a little brighter. Nonetheless, Lara relied on the reddish-light to see where she was going. At the same time, Lara's instincts were beginning to tell her that something amazing was waiting for her just around the next corner up ahead, and she could only imagine what it could be…

* * *

**Hey there, everyone! I'm happy to say that Lost Valley is finally complete! The next chapter is when things will really start to become interesting. For those of you who have played the game before, original and/or remake (which I'm assuming is about 99% of you guys), it should be of no surprise as to what will happen next. However, for those of you who may have not played the game and don't know what will happen next, I won't spoil it for you!**

**There was a part where I kind of got inspired by Tomb Raider: Anniversary in regards to how Lara manages to escape from the valley. In the original, all Lara had to do was retrace her steps and work backwards to get out. But in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Lara was required to take a higher route over the valley cliffs in order to make her way back to the cavern with the giant waterfall. For this, I decided to bring that element into Lara's exploration, while at the same time keeping a lot of the original elements from the first game. Not only that, but it would've been really boring just to have Lara go back the way she came from and not encounter anything new along the way. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it and I look forward to sharing the chapter with you guys! Until then, I'll see all of y'all later :)**

**saturn95 **


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